Magic of Ninja
by pa0lini
Summary: Betrayed in the worst way, Naruto is now a hardened ANBU. Captain of the most elite squad. The War for fate of the Elemental Nations rages and Naruto's strength is needed most. So why is he now being tasked to guard Harry Potter? Thrust into a world full of politic, unknown enemies and allies with secret agendas, Naruto and his team must cope, and what is Kyuubi planning?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter. All rights reserved to their copyrighters

"Speaking english"  
>'thoughts english<br>_"Spells/ Foreign language/ jutsu"  
>'thoughts'<em>

"Thank you for meeting with me, Milady," An elderly man said, standing as a young woman walked into the unremarkable room. The old man was dressed oddly in the woman's opinion. His long white beard was tucked into the belt of his robe, which had large, white stars patterned all over. Blue eyes twinkled behind half-moon glasses that rested on a long crooked nose.

"It must be important for an acquaintance of my great uncle's to contact us," The woman replied. She wore the formal attire of one in her position. A white robe covered her, and a large hat with the kanji of 'Fire' sat proudly on her head, with cloth flowing down from it to cover all sides of her neck bar her face. Her face was beautiful. Large brown eyes, small petite nose and pouty lips. In the center of her forehead was a small purple diamond, perhaps a tattoo the an thought. Overall she looked decidedly young for the leader of a powerful ninja nation. And he said as much.

The woman smirked, her hat hiding her expression. "Do not let your eyes fool you Mr. Dumbledore. I am much older than I appear. But we did not come to discus my age or capabilities as leader of my village. Of what did you deem important enough to demand a meeting with you?. Even going so far as to force your way through the barrier?"

"My dear woman, force is such an inappropriate term. I merely wished to ask the neice of my dearly departed friend a favor."

"Who just happens to be leader of a ninja nation. This is an international matter, no matter how discrete you wished to keep it. Due to your connection with my great uncle, the Second Hokage, I have allowed this meeting and will consider your request depending on what it is. I currently speak on behalf of all five Kages' and their Daimyos'. Therefore, I, Tsunade Senju, Hokage of the Konoha, ask you, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, what you wish of our country?"

Dumbledore frowned slightly. This was not working out as he had hoped. The ninja were as stubborn and reclusive now as they were one hundred years ago. This meeting had taken much persuasion and, regrettably force to attain. The magic that protected their world from outside influence was a strong as ever. Although they called their magic 'chakra' and could manipulate it in many different ways.

"Lady Hokage, how familiar are your people with the way of the outside world?" Dumbledore asked. The Hokage frowned.

"Better than how familiar you are to ours. If you hadn't noticed, we're speaking English. Our nations have adopted Japanese as our first language due to our location in the 'Pacific Ocean' your world calls it. We are up to date with matters, most specifically any that could affect our lands. What is it that you ask of us?"

The elderly man started when he was told that English wasn't her native tongue. She spoke it fluently and without a hint of an accent. This would be troublesome, how could they have so much information on the outside world, enough to speak various languages fluently? What about the world of magic?

"How much knowledge do you have of witched, wizards and the Ministry then?" he questioned.

"Ministry?"

Dumbledore smiled, as if indulging a small child. Tsunade decided she didn't like that look.

"Why the Ministry of Magic. The establishment that governs over all Magic in England, the leading country in all magic. Why in the whole world, England has the most advanced and powerful techniques." Tsunade then decided she really didn't like the slight smug tone that was coating his voice, and then decided to stop him talking then.

"Oh, magic. That's right, that's what you people call chakra and need to control through wands. Well, England you say? That's in the United Kingdom right? Well I agree the English are quite advance when it comes to 'magic', but I have to say, your teaching programs are similar all over the world, why France is quite close with England. Though they do not call their government the 'Ministry', They prefer to call it the 'Bureaucracy of Magic". In Australia it is the 'Dominion", in America it's the 'Presidency'. All use the same basic teaching methods, so their are very few different styles."

Albus's eyes widened. Their information network was incredible! The ministry barely had enough information on Europe let alone south of the equator! Yet here were these people who had been secluded from the rest of the world who had top quality intel on everywhere and everyone.

"Was the objective of this meeting to gain information on your possible enemies and allies?" Tsunade questioned harshly. "We are not your scouts or spies. We do not give out information to outsiders."

"No, no, no," Dumbledore hastily shook his head. He can't recall when he was last this much out of his depth. The woman even knew his full name, which he only ever signed or said on official documents and business. "Have your people heard of a dark wizard by the name of Voldemort?" he said somewhat desperately.

The Hokage frowned thoughtfully. "Dark wizard? Ah, that's what you people call missing-nin, yes?" At Dumbledore's puzzled look, she waved that thought away. Dumbledore tucked that bit of information in the back of his mind for reviewing at his own leisure. "Voldemort, once known as a Mr. Tom Riddle. Orphan. Son of a magic-born and non magic-born. Taken to England's Hogwarts once he was at the appropriate age of eleven. When your society deems them old enough to educate. Was an exceptional student through schooling. Gathered followers whilst in school as well as after graduation. Adopted the name Voldemort when started his campaign to overtake your government. Stopped when following a prophecy" Tsunade snorted. Who believed in prophecys?

Dumbledore was shocked. Their information was so thorough, so complete. They couldn't have information that detailed on every witch and wizard, could they? Tsunade read his expression easily.

"In answer to what your thinking, we do not. We do not have enough time or space to keep records on every magic being that you govern. We paid attention to this man because if left unattended, he could have been a threat to our society or a possible ally if succeeding in his campaign, so we needed to know your situation was handled. He was a threat to your world and so was considered a possible enemy to ours. We have files on the main players in your world, and others. We must observe every possible threat."

"Then you know that he has returned. He is a threat once more."

"We know that through some ritual, he was able to achieve a corporal body once again and is now once again plotting a war with your government."

"Good, then that leaves less explaining to do. I would like to hire your best ninja to guard one Harry Potter throughout the coming years." Dumbledore propositioned. It was so sudden, Tsunade was speechless.

"You want to what?"

"Hire out your ninja. To protect Harry Potter, he has had several attempts on his life in the last month, all with him unaware of it mind you. You are a military nation that hires out your forces are you not? I am a client. I wish for your best ninja to defend Harry Potter, and the grounds of Hogwarts too while we're at it, for the next few years. Funds are not an issue I assure you. Since you know who Voldemort is, then you understand that it is of the utmost importance that we defeat him. Harry Potter is the only one who is able to, as the prophecy foretold." Dumbledore went on to explain. "Now, the semester starts September First, but ! would like for your ninja to meet with the wizards who are overseeing his safety at-"

"NO!" The leader of Konoha exploded, finally getting her voice. Dumbledore staggered slightly under the pressure of her chakra. "We have remained independent of your world for centuries. We do not hand out shinobi to every person that says they'll pay. This war with Voldemort is your problem, not ours. If he becomes a threat to us then we will deal with it how we always have. To you he is the epitome of evil, but we have watched countless countries fall to enemies who become their new heroes and leaders. Why, to the people who England invaded, you would have been seen as the worst type of nation there is, but you yourselves do not see it. The Aborigines of Australia, the Natives of America. Should we have intervened when you were expanding your territory? No! This is simply another one of your little wars that do not involve us, so we shall no be involved."

Dumbledore was properly cowed. But he did not come this way to receive no for an answer.

"Surely you must see that Voldemort is nothing but evil! If he conquers our world, what's to say he won't move onto yours?"

"The knowledge of the Elemental Nations is extremely rare in your world. You, who only know of us through meeting my great uncle a handful of times when he was on reconnaissance missions, should know this. A grand total of twelve books in your country and ninety three world wide, have any sort of solid information on us, and that's educated guesses at best. Ninja's are bedtime stories mothers read to their children. Unless this Voldemort likes chasing fairy tales, such as what we have become, then I doubt we will see much of a problem from him."

"You do not know how resourceful or powerful he has become. Although I do not say it often, if at all, I am one of the most powerful wizards of our time, and Voldemort could defeat me." The Hogwarts Headmaster's magic swelled at this.

Tsunade snorted. His power was nothing. "Why would that matter to me. To us you would rank chuunin, maybe even a jounin, but a jounin none the less." Dumbledore frowned at the unfamiliar term, his power swelling then decreasing and then swelling again. The Hokage sighed, there was no harm in telling him their ranks, after all it was written in a book in their world. Mind you it was only one, and it was in America at the moment, in the fantasy section. Well if the man did his homework proper, then he would know already.

"We have a ranking system. What military organization doesn't? First we have academy students, those who have just started learning our ways. They are about equal to your first years at wizarding schools. Then we have Gennin, ninja-in-training. They are at the level of your graduates. Chuunin is next, your full fledged ninja. They match your aurors, and the majority of your wizarding world. Jounin are the elite. They are the ones who carry out our most difficult missions, this is where you might possibly be in terms of power. Then there are ANBU, they deal with the black ops missions, they are the elite of the elite, we know no-one in your country able to oppose our ANBU. Personally chosen by Kage's to be their body guards, hands, eyes and ears. Sannin, there are only three in our world and your looking at one, and then Kage level, the leaders and rulers of every single ninja in our land. There are five of us, technically six but that's not important right now, and we each rule our own nation. That's seven rankings and you barely make it to rank four. This Voldemort will not cause us trouble."

"I assure you my lady, that maybe in terms of power we are inferior, but do not assume superiority over us. Many a fight has been won, not due to strength, but ingenuity. I myself have assisted in the creation of an object that could turn any material into gold and make oneself immortal." Wild hand movements accompanied his argument, most childish in the Leaf leader's opinion.

Tsunade stared at him with barely restrained contempt. "Immortality? That's the best you have? We have a rogue ninja, like your dark wizard, who is able to live forever due to him taking over a possessing different bodies and absorbing the powers that the host body holds. We have entire families that can see through walls, through your very body. One of my advisers has an IQ of over two hundred and one of my subordinates has personally arranged peace treaties with every major village in our lands. Do not lecture me as if i were a child Mr. Dumbledore. I am aware of the realities of battle, I have been in more wars and fights than you can possibly imagine and have seen things that would curl your beard. We are not taking sides in your war. If Voldemort came to us instead of you then we would give him the same answer. We are done here."

Tsunade turned to leave the room. She had her ANBU waiting just outside that would be escorting her back to the Kage summit. She needed to tell the other Kage's of what the outsider wanted, and then they needed to get back to their war. As her hand touched the door handle, she heard a barely whispered,

"_Imperio"_

Her hand stopped, the door handle rattled. A heart beat later, a man was beside her. Dumbledore stared. He should have known she would have brought her bodyguards. This must be one of those ANBU. The man towered over the Hokage. He was dressed in black pant and a sleeveless black shirt that was covered in a strange grey armor that left his shoulders and arms bare. A symbol was tattooed to his left arm, which Dumbledore memorized instantly. Black gauntlets with the same colored armor covered his forearms. Pouches were strapped to each of his thighs by what seemed to be bandages. But what caught his attention the most was the white, porcelain mask tat covered the man's face. It was shaped into that of a creature, with blood red paint to outline it's features. Albus looked as the man stared at the frozen Hokage, unable to tell what expression was on his face due to the white mask.

"_Hokage-sama," _the man questioned. Dumbledore, didn't allow the frown to cross his face, they were speaking Japanese. He was a little rusty but he may be able to fluke this.

_"Return to your post. I will come when I am finished." _The masked man caught the off tone to his leaders voice. Her eyes were tight, and her posture stiff. Well the conversation hadn't been going in a good direction from what he could tell so it was understandable. Bowing the man was about to leave when,

"_Make sure you and the others are out of hearing distance. I am going to be questioning this Dumbledore on the outside."_

The man frowned, why would he not be allowed near? But an order was an order, and an instant later he was gone. Waiting a good few minutes to make sure her guards had left, Dumbledore revealed his hidden wand. Pointing it at the Hokage, he said softly,

"Turn around." The Hokage did so. In her mind she was raging. How was this possible, he should not have the power to do this to her! Her mastery of her mind was impeccable. This would be one of the forbidden jutsu or 'spells' as they called them. But from what she knew, she shouldn't be able to realize she is under his command, unless this is his own spell or a modified version.

"I apologize for having to resort to this, but your indifference on the matter has forced my hand. The ends justify the means. Voldemort must be destroyed and I will not allow you to stand idle whilst people who are precious to me are killed when you could of done something." Tsunade blinked, being able to slightly understand his reasoning.

"I can assume from your already impressive display of knowledge that you would be able to name the spell I am using. Imperium. Able to fully control a person's mind and body. As you know, my power is no where near yours so I had to modify it a little. You see, I have done my homework on your kind. One book so kindly stated that your power was so much greater than ours that you can barely sense it. So how were you to know when i was gathering my power compared to say, when I was upset?"

Tsunade's eyes widened. The wild hand gestures, the fluctuating magic she felt around him. He was preparing for this from the start. But even so, concentrating his power shouldn't be enough to take over her mind.

"Now your great uncle did leave me with something extraordinary." Dumbledore continued, eyes sparkling. "His essence of magic was water, as you probably well know, and so a tiny vile was left when he had to battle some rather nasty heliopaths. Spirits of fire horses. So he used his water magic and I just happened to get some. Now," Tsunade was strongly reminded of the Academy teachers, "Magic has this little branch called blood magic. It is highly dangerous, mind you, and illegal, but very useful in the right hands. Using blood magic, I was able to seperate your, Senju, is it? hereditary traits. I won't go into the details, much to pressed for time for that, but I am able to control you to some extent with this and the Imperium curse."

Tsunade was outraged, the second this jutsu wore off, she would personally turn him into a bloody pulp.

"Now, I have already taken the time to draw up a contract for our little deal. If you would be so kind as to sign, I will take my leave and you may return to your country."

Fuming, Tsunade was forced to walk over to a plain table that held the said documentation Dumbledore wanted signed. Dammit, if only she could move a single finger by her own will, the table would become dust. Ignoring her obvious anger, Dumbledore continued talking.

"I also understand that by signing this contract you will be involving your lands in an international dispute. This will most likely have to be discussed with the other lands. I chose to confront your lands because you have the highest level of honor, so without further ado." The wizard waved his wand, and Tsunade bit her finger. Another wave and she had signed her name at the bottom of the contract. Dumbledore then wrote down his very long signature.

"Now you have signed a contract between us, I hope you will honor it. You may have your vengeance against me after Voldemort is destroyed if you wish. But I also hope you will understand why I have to do this." He lowered his wand, and stopped the curse. Tsunade clicked her fingers the second she was able. Dumbledore flew across the room and was slammed into the opposite wall. When his vision cleared, he was staring at three different porcelain masks. Each was a different pattern. Was that one a dove?

"_Hokage-sama, what are your orders?" _A voice said. It was the man from before. His back was to him and he was kneeling before the Hokage. Now he could see the man's back, he could also see the sheathed sword that was strapped to his back, and that it didn't look uncomfortable there at all.

_"This man has forced my hand. Literally. We must meet with the other Kages. They may hate it, but we'll have to pool all of our knowledge of the outside. I'm sending a squad for guard duty with the occaisional assassination." _Dumbledore could only catch bits of the conversation, he was going to have to brush up on his Japanese.

"_Deer, return his stick to him. He may leave." _A hand forced an object into his hand. Only then did Dumbledore notice that his wand had been taken from him. The Hokage turned to face him. "Your methods are disgusting and dishonorable. Know this, your actions today have made it near impossible for our two worlds to ever be allied. I will need to discus the situation to my fellow Kage." Then she paused, he gazed locked onto the signed contract.

"You will have you ninja, you will have our best. But be warned, we are a different people, we view things in a different perspective. Understand they will act according to how our society dictates, not yours. They are not your puppets, we have out own methods of communication, that you will not be able to tamper with or review."

Dumbledore nodded, expecting as much. He slid a hand into his sleeve, not missing the tensing of the guards as he did so. They were alert, good. He withdrew a piece of parchment, with very neat, curly hand writing on it.

"I understand your terms, and I have done my utmost to make this small alliance easier. If you read through the contract it will state what I would like done. Now here are the directions to where the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix lay. They are the secret group of witches and wizards who are fighting Voldemort's Death Eaters at the moment. Since our government refuses to publicly acknowledge his return we are forced to use guerrilla tactics. Meet with them to form a plan on defending Harry Potter. I have also listed Hogwarts and it's students in the contract, but Harry Potter is the priority." Dumbledore took out what seemed to be an old key from a hidden pocket inside his robe. The ninja holding him stared.

"I will take my leave. If your ninja would meet the Order as soon as they can it would be greatly appreciated." The ANBU tensed, sensing something was about to happen. Sure enough a few seconds later, Albus had disappeared. The ANBU didn't waste a second, instantly spreading out to cover their Hokage as well as scanning the surrounding area.

"_He's gone. That was one of their methods of transportation. Now we must head to the summit and discus this with the Kages. From what he just let slip, their country is in the middle of a civil cold war too," _Tsunade said wearily. The ANBU turned to her and nodded. A millisecond later, their bodies had blurred and were gone. The only sign anyone was in the room, a crack on the wall.

...

The instant his feet hit the familiar floor of his office, he collapsed.

"Albus!" A worried voice yelled. Hands helped him to stand. He looked around and saw the members of the Order all waiting for him to return.

"Why hello everyone, what may I do for you?" he said smiling. Minerva, the one to call out, glared at him slightly.

"You know very well headmaster. What did the 'ninja' have to say." She replied sternly, not allowing him to brush off his moment of weakness.

"Well we will be hosting a 'squad' of them for the coming few years, until Harry has graduated. From what I know that is usually four people. They will also be protecting the grounds so we wont have any more midnight skirmishes with the mercenary wizards. I have requested and confirmed that they will be sending their best, so please be aware they will be incredibly battle hardened. Ah, the are also doing this completely not of their own free will."

Everyone in the room stared.

"What do you mean Albus?" A man with a spinning false eye demanded. The rest of the room nodded.

"Well they were quite adamant to keep out of our affairs in the interest of their own, admirable on their half, but completely unacceptable on ours, so using methods I do not wish to discuss, the leader of one of the most powerful 'villages' signed a contract with me. They are honor bound to follow it. I am hoping that once they see how righteous our cause is, they will be willing to stay on as staff full time until the war is over." the room was quiet before it exploded with sound, everyone trying to be heard.

"You _forced _them?"

"The ministry is going to love this."

"How are having unwilling guards going to be any good?"

"If you could force them, then are they powerful enough?"

"You forced ninja?"

"What do you mean by village? Are they that uncivilized?

"_Ninja? _They actually exist?"

"What is Cornelius going to stay when he finds out you have ninja?"

"How did you force ninja?"

"SILENCE!" The man with the spinning eye yelled. The room quietened. He turned his gaze towards Dumbledore, even his spinning eye was still, and pinned on the tall thin man.

"You obviously have some plan and faith in these ninja's skills. So we have to trust that you know what your doing. But Voldemort's plan doesn't only involve killing Harry, If it did then we would be facing every Death Eater out there. No, now we have protection for Harry, we must focus on stopping his influence from reaching the muggle world and from turning any other good witches and wizards to his side. He is planning a compete take over of all magic, and we must stop him."

The people in the room stared in awe at the retired auror before them. Never has he said such an inspiring speech before. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his glasses.

"Well said Moody, now a handful of you must go and retrieve Harry from his relatives, we have intercepted a communication that says the enemy plans to attack there tonight. Moving him will be dangerous as they will most likely attack you whilst you are moving. The guards will be meeting you at Grimmauld place to further discuss their job description, so someone must be there at all time to await their arrival. Moody, I would like that person to be you, that way you can keep an eye on them at all times. I trust they will do their jobs, but they will most likely be searching for any information about us they can get."

The room nodded, Moody scowled. Keeping an eye on the best ninja available sounded like a death wish, but he knew it needed to be done.

"Very well, I have much to attend to and I'm sure you are all busy people. Can I offer anyone a portkey?"

...

Kage Summit  
>"Japanese speaking"<p>

"THEY DID WHAT?" A large man with chocolate colored skin slammed his fist down on the table. If it wasn't made with chakra reinforced stone, Tsunade was sure it would have been reduced to dust.

"Calm down Raikage, this problem is going to take much planning, not brutal strength." A small man with a large bulbous nose said sternly.

"I must disagree with you here Tsuchikage, " An very attractive female with long red hair argued. "This could quite very well be seen as an act of war. Forcing the leader to sign a contract demanding military forces from her, especially now, we can ignore it and focus on our own problems, when we are finished we can crush the arrogant man"

"The Mizukage has a point," A young man with red hair said. He had been quiet through the entire meeting until now. "This is their problem, as the Hokage told them. Forcing her hand after she declined means you do not have to honor this contract at all."

Tsunade frowned. As much as she agreed with her fellow Kage, she could not in good faith, dishonor a contract signed with her own blood, no matter how underhanded the method used to obtain it was.

"The Kazekage has a point," the old man said. "But we can discus the outside would later, what are we to do about our war?"

"It seems that Sound was just a pawn of the Akatsuki's, They were the cannon fodder."

"So Orochimaru is still a member then?

"It seems that way yes, which means their extraction of the tailed beasts will go much quicker."

"But only the nine tails and eight tails remain."

"With Orochimaru not able to do the ritual until he is well, Akatsuki will have to wait for him."

"What does Itachi think of Orochimaru using his little brother as a host body?"

"From what has been gathered he is most against it."

"Why would it bother him? He massacred his entire clan!"

"But left his brother alive, he must have some sentimental attachment to him."

"But what does Sasuke think of having to work with the one that killed his family?"

"They have been kept separate. From what our spies have heard, Sasuke knows he's not strong enough so will wait until he thinks himself ready."

"So how are they able to work together?"

"It seems Pain and Orochimaru have come to a deal. The snake will capture the nine tails in exchange for Sasuke."

"Itachi is fine with that?"

"He has no choice, it is his leader's decision, although I think he might fight when the time comes though,"

"Orochimaru has certainly planned this well."

"Orochimaru is the one after the kid?"

"He does not deserve to bear the name Kage!" The Raikage said, anger and disgust coloring his tone.

"How much time do we have before he takes the Uchiha, and the Akatsuki start hunting in earnest?" asked the Kazekage.

"Well when the Uchiha turned traitor he was thirteen. It was a year later the other turned as well. When they were sixteen was the original planned date for the transfer, but my ANBU were able to stop that, at heavy cost. So they would have to be nineteen before Orochimaru can attempt again. They are currently seventeen if I remember correctly, so roughly two years, two and a half at most." The Hokage explained.

"Wait a moment," The Tsuchikage said. The others turned towards him. He had a look of deep concentration on his face, Tsunade swore she could see another wrinkle forming. "How old is this Harry Potter?" Tsunade blinked, that was a drastic change of subject.

"He is fifteen from the information I have been given." She replied cautiously.

"Hmmm," The Tsuchikage did not elaborate. The room was silent.

"The timing is almost too perfect," the quite voice of the young Sand leader said. The Hidden Rock leader smiled at the red head. The boy was quick.

"What are you thinking?" demanded the Hidden Cloud's Raikage.

"Orochimaru has to wait until the boy turns nineteen yes?" The small man explained. The Raikage nodded in understanding. "The guard contract with the outside is until the Potter boy graduates. They graduate at seventeen. He is fifteen."

It clicked. Your could visibly see when each of the leaders grasped the idea.

"Your thinking of sending the squad with Naruto?" Tsunade gasped. It was brilliant. This way, Naruto would be out of harm's way and they could re-divert all their forces to taking down Sound. No matter the quality of shinobi, you can't fight a war without an army.

"This might work," The Leaf leader said eventually. The Tsuchikage grinned.

"So we send the nine tails jinchuuriki outside? Who else shall accompany him?" The Mizukage asked. This had nothing to do with her country, but it was always handy to stay informed of such international matters.

"I will send my Alpha squad." The Hokage stated, determination shining from her eyes. The Kazekage's eyes widened.

"Are you sure you need to send all of them? They are arguable the most powerful and lethal force at the moment. Their strength and cunning would be a great asset to our war efforts."

"Be that as it may, I would rather them with Naruto. They are familiar with his command and if any enemy were to discover their location, there are the best suited to defend against. Plus, focusing on what the wizard told me. The outside is politically unstable, in the middle of a civil cold war. The team is intelligent enough to evade questions whilst gathering information. I have no doubt they will try and get them to stay, so they need to be as diplomatic as possible when saying no."

The Kage's all snorted in amusement, Tsunade allowed herself a small grin. Although he had be training to be better, diplomatic isn't the word you would usually use to describe Uzumaki Naruto.

"Their team is also highly suited to guard duty of, _Hogwarts Castle_. Wow, where do they get their names from?" Looking up, she met the gaze of each of the Kage's with a stern glare. "For this mission to be any sort of success, in both aspects. I will need any and all information you have on the outside world, specifically the culture of wizarding England and it's government."

The gazes of the other Kage turned stony, except for the Kazekage, who expression remained impassive.

"You realize you are asking for free information?" growled the Raikage. Tsunade glared right back.

"I am. I know this is a bitter pill to swallow, but for the success of this mission and the war, we need this information."

"I agree."

Tsunade stared at her fellow female Kage, shocked. She would have expected Gaara to be the first to say yes. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I am well aware of the situation and this is the best course of action. Besides, information on the outside isn't really that hard to get and can hardly be used to harm my country in any way." The woman said airily, flipping her red hair over her shoulder.

"The Land of Wind has the most information, due to our location furthest west. We are closest to the barrier, so we are the first target should the outside attack." The Kazekage said, his monotone voice showing support for the Hokage.

"Never thought I'd see the day I'd be willingly giving free information to Konoha," The Tsuchikage muttered. "I agree as well." he said to the room.

"Cloud will not be the only village that doesn't help out it's allies! We agree as well!" the Raikage said loudly, his fist denting the table once again. The Hokage smile warmly.

"I know how difficult it is for you to give us this information so I will make it as painless as I can. It just so happens that my ANBU guard squad is team Alpha, so they are here right now. I will not force you to repeat any of the information you give us more than once, and you will only need to tell my squad. Is this agreeable?" The Kages nodded and Tsunade clicked her fingers. Instantly four ninja appeared behind her, kneeling, heads down. The same ninja from her meeting with Dumbledore.

"Alpha squad, Stand and remove your masks." The four stood, and in one swift and practiced movement, revealed their identities. Four Leaf ninja stood, each one had a reputation that made them legendary.

"Alpha squad reporting, team leader Fox," One said formally, his blonde hair had grown longer but was still as spiky as ever, the Kazekage mused.

"You need not be so formal here, Uzumaki." The Mizukage said, smiling. The blonde relaxed his stance, as well as the others.

"What did you need Baa-chan?" he asked, grinning and nodding his head to Gaara, the Kazekage. Gaara nodded back and continued observing the squad before him. Naruto had grown a lot in the past few years. No longer the short boy he had first met, but a strong looking young man, standing at around six feet. His muscles were overly bulky, as most ninja's weren't, buy wiry and strong. Six scars marked his face in the image of whiskers, the sign of the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. Bright blue eyes, studied the room, but there were shadows that flicked behind that gaze. More darkness than the average shinobi, but that was to be expected with Naruto's history.

"What have I said about you calling me that, brat?" The Hokage growled. Naruto's grin got wider, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"You call me brat, I call you Baa-chan," he countered.

"Maa maa, Naruto. Let's listen to what the Kage's have to say, ne?" Naruto looked up into the smiling eye of his former sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Gravity defying silver hair stood at a strange angle. The lower half of his face covered by a cloth mask, one eye covered by his hitai-ate. Even though he was team leader, Kakashi still used the fact that he was his student to get away with being informal.

"Troublesome, nothing good can come of being called in front of all five Kages," muttered one of their other teammates. Nara Shikamaru, acknowledged as the best strategic planner of their time as well as the most lazy. Hair tied back into a spiky ponytail, and ears which had been pierced many times.

"It is our fate to receive such missions, it comes with out skill," the cool voice of Hyuuga Neji said to his mumbling companion. His pupil-less, slanderer eyes seemingly staring at nothing, but seeing everything. Long brown hair flowed down his back and tied off into a small ponytail. "Taicho i suggest we listen,"

"Yeah, yeah, so. What can we do for you?"

"Squad Alpha, you have a mission. It is guard duty of a boy called Harry Potter and the establishment he resides." The Hokage said. Team Alpha stared. There was more to this guard duty that meets the eye. In the past Naruto would have complained out loud that it was a waste of his time, but now. Experience had told him to keep quiet and examine all the facts, though he was known for the occasional outburst now and then. He would wait for the catch.

"The guard detail will take place outside the chakra barrier." The Tsuchikage said. Each of the ANBU's posture stiffened. They were part of the few who knew about the chakra barrier, being so involved in politics that each of their positions demanded. To go outside, it has never been heard of in their time. The barrier lay west of the Land of Chaos and the Land of Order, and circled the entire Elemental Nations. It kept their way of life isolated from those who were too weak minded to accept it or to power hungry to try and exploit it.

"Mission details?" Kakashi questioned.

"Harry Potter is a boy who is prophesized to be the only one who can take down the wizard Voldemort. Voldemort is currently trying to take over the government in power and proclaim himself ruler. The residence Potter is staying at is one Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Witches' and Wizards are what they call people who have chakra or 'magic' as they call it. Different to us however because they choose to hide their true nature from civilians or 'muggles'. Their naming is confusing but you will get the hang of it. This mission will last until Potter has graduated from Hogwarts. So approximately three years." Tsunade described.

The ANBU were silent as they absorbed the information. This mission was going to be difficult.

"We of the other nations are going to give you as much knowledge about this world you can handle. Each of you are fluent in English?" At their nods, the Tsuchikage continued, "Good, that is their main language. Now get comfy because you are going to have to learn an entire culture in the next few hours."

Naruto grinned and made himself comfy leaning against a wall. "Go for it gramps, after all, I'll need to know this much since I'm the Godaime's heir."


	2. Chapter 2

Plot Bunnies Two

Four of the most powerful and important people in the Elemental Nations stood in the middle Grimmauld Place, looking for the house marked number twelve. The first was the current head of the protesgeous Hyuuga clan, it's most gifted yet. Hokage's personal Anbu guard and also his village's first division attack squad leader. One was the heir to the Nara clan, as well as being one of the most prized advisers to the five Kages during the war, and betrothed of the Suna princess. He was next in line to head the Torture and Investigation division of the ANBU. Third was weilder of the powerful doujutsu, the Sharingan, and inheritor of the legend of the White Fang. Student to the Fourth, one of the greatest Hokage ever to have lived. Cheif Commander of the third division of the allied ninja army. The last person was the most important. Son of the Fourth Hokage and former princess of the Whirlpool Country, Godson of one of the Sannin, Adopted grandson of another Sannin. Student of the famous Copy Ninja, and Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed demon fox as well as being acknowledged and trained as the next Rokudaime Hokage. But each of these people were dressed the exact same, the only difference their masks and weapons. Dog, Dove, Deer and Fox.

The entire world outside of the barrier made Fox nervous, though he hid it well. He was an accomplished Sage, and the sage crafts needed nature chakra to work, but here amongst all of the brick buildings and metal contraptions, he felt hardly any of nature's soothing chakra at all. This meant that he would be hard pressed to use any of his Sage techniques, if at all.

_"Deer, what do you see?" _Fox asked in their native tongue. It had been agreed upon, that unless speaking to the locals of this country, they would converse in their own tongue. It would make it harder on eavesdroppers.

"_A strong genjutsu has been placed over the building we seek. Curious." _Deer replied, studying the building with his eyes. Even though his mask covered it, his teammates knew that the veins around his eyes were bulging slightly as chakra was forced through them to activate his clan's unique doujutsu, the Byakugan.

"_Curious?" _questioned Deer. He was always able to pick up on the inflections and words that people used, something his training at the TI department gave him.

"_I see very old chakra surrounding it, as well as very strong new chakra. My guess is that there were numerous security messures put in place when first used that have been boosted and added to recently by someone very skilled."_

_"How powerful?" _asked Dog. Fox saw him scratch his head, the action hiding his adjustment of his headband. Fox was sure he was examining the building with his Sharingan. A low whilstle surprised him. Dove nodded.

_"Powerful enough to back what that bearded man said about those sticks boosting their power. If this is the case we must examines these 'wand' things and send back a report to Hokage-sama." _

Fox frowned. If this 'magic' was stronger than what they had been told, the mission just might be more difficult than it already was.

_"Fox-taicho." _Dove's voice broke through his thoughts. His head snapped towards Dove. _"There is a man in there who has an object imbued with chakra in his eye socket. It has been staring at us for a while. I believe it may be able to see us."_

Fox cursed. He had been hoping to infiltrate and gather information before revealing themselves to their client. Not the most honorable way to conduct buisness, but then again, neither was theirs. "_What is he doing?" _Fox asked.

_"He has called for the other people in residence, except for a few younger ones who are remaining upstairs. I think... I think they are waiting to see what we do. This is a test Taicho. To see if we can find a way in to their hidden house." _ Dove finished with a snarl. They did not like it when their employers did not have faith in their abilities, it just made their job so much harder. Fox scracthed the back of his head in annoyance.

_"Fine, here's what we're gonna do." _

_..._

"Well Moody? What are they doing?" asked a nervous Arthur Weasley. The rest of the Order members that has escorted Harry the previous night were waiting for an answer as well, the kitchen was a bit crowded. The cavernous room was dim anf gloomy, smoke hung in the air making complex and intricate shapes. A large wooden table surrounded by many stood in the middle of the room. The table was covered in goblets, empty wine bottles and a handful of parchment. Moody was silent, making sure he was seeing correctly.

"They're leaving." He growled. "What kind of no-good bodyguards turn around and leave because they can't make it through the front door?"

"Aren't they supposed to be all-powerful? A Fidelious charm beat them!" snorted Nymphadora Tonks.

"Are you sure they're leaving?" An oily voice asked. Moody turned so his non-magical eye could glare at Severus Snape, his magical eye stil trained on the visitors, seeing through the back of his head. "Dumbledore was quite positive they would be... sufficiant."

"Well if them walking down to the end of the street, isn't them leaving then i don't know what l-" Moody cut himself off and whirled around to where his eye last saw the strangers.

"What is it?" A tall, black wizard asked, Kingsley Shaklebolt.

"They've gone." he whispered. The wizards and witches murmered restlessly.

"What do you mean gone? They can' have just gone! Apparation is impossible around here without my father's warnings going nuts!" Sirius Black, owner of number twelve Grimmauld Place demanded.

"Maybe your eye is going as mad as you, Moody," Severus said snidely. Moody growled. He would bet his remaining eye that those 'ninja' had just disappeared. But he saw no magic in their movements, and Sirius is right, the security spells that coated this house were so impossibly complex and sensitive, one of them had to go off.

"I'm telling you they just disappeared!" Moody shouted, frustrated. A nervous and quiet Mrs Weasley stood in the corner of the room, mentally patting herself on the back for the Imperturbable Charm she had put around the kitchen. She didn't want the children listening in on this particular conversation.

Angry voices erupted in the room, most just saying nonsense, others speculating on the guards powers or lack of powers. Snape continued to pick flaws at Moody's eye, which was spinning in it's socket. Moody was ignoring everyone and focusing on what he was seeing. His eye was moving so fast he wasn't able to keep up with the images it was showing him. Flashes of a shadow here, a small surge of magic, and much running and leaping. Moody's breath became slightly laboured as he poured magic into his eye, urging the images to become clearer. The best he could grasp were blurs, shadows, reflections off glass. The things were moving to fast for his eye to follow. People seemed to notice Moody'd slowly rising panic.

"Mad-Eye, what is it?" A concerned Remus Lupin asked. The voices subsided as the people registered the incredible speed the magical eye was spinning. He didn't answer, instead he whirled around to face the corner where Mrs Weasley had remained, nervous and quiet. She flinched as everyones gazes landed on her, and completely froze when she felt four people walk past her.

"Don't you know it's impolite to ignore your guests, especially when your the ones who invited us over," A cold voice said, not muffled in the slightest by the horrifying mask that covered it. In the dim light, shadows danced over the masks, making them seem more frightful and leering. The ninja were strongly reminded of the dungeons back at the Leaf, though this place seemed slightly more depressing. Mrs Weasley couldn't help herself, she fainted. Mr Weasley started forward when he saw his wife's eyes roll back, but stopped when one of the masked men thrust out a hand, quicker than lighting, and grabbed her arm.

The wizards could only stare as the tallest one with the mask that looked like a dog, effortlessly picked up the unconcious woman with one hand. Now Mrs Weasley would be the first one to tell you that she had more meat on her bones than most, she was happily plump, but the man was lifting her up with one hand as if she weighed no more than a rag doll.

"Where do you want her?" The one in front asked. He was a bit shorter than the dog masked one, his blonde hair showing slightly around the edges of his mask. He had not even turned around, not even a muscle had twitched since speaking to the assembled wizards. Could he tell what had happened from just sound alone?

Arthur ran forward and pulled a chair from the table in the centre of the room and gestured towards it. The dog masked man walked to the chair and placed her down gently before moving himself back into his position. As Arthur fretted over his wife, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room. The shinobi glared at the wizards, although they could not see it due to their masks, they felt the weight of their gaze.

The wizards just stared in awe at the legends before them. Never had any of them ever thought they would live to see a ninja. Tonks remembered when her mother told her bedtime stories about them, that if she wasn't good, their hunters would come after her. Power was etched into every line of their bodies. Their black clothes and silver armor just added to the image of power. They stood at ease, she thought the military term was. Their feet shoulder width apart and their hands clasped behind their backs. Not a hair out of place or a muscled twitched. She glanced sideways at Moody and Snape.

Snape had turned a few shades paler when the ninja appeared, like wraiths from the shadows they glided into the dim light. The old floorboards didn't even creak as they had moved. Even when the onehad caught the woman, they did it silently and with ease. Not a movement was wasted and now, they were stuck in a stalemate. They stood, most likely waiting for a debreifing or orders. Dumbledore had discussed with them the military dictatorship they lived by. Just wait till they met the wonders of democracy, they will never want to leave.

Moody had removed his eye. He couldn't take the strain of looking at their power anymore. Usually he could get a grasp of someones ability by how brightly they glowed in his magic vision. These ninja, just the one in the front had blinded him. He lit up the entire room! Looking at all four of them would rob him of his eyesight forever.

It was Sirius who finally broke the silence.

"How did you manage to get in here without triggering the alarms?" he demanded once he got his voice back. He had been stunned into silence when the four had appeared behind Molly. It was the one in front who spoke.

"This level of infilration is _chuunin _at best. It took longer than we would have liked due to some very old scanning... 'spells', that are still active, but this sort of thing comes to us naturally." Casting another glance over the room, the ninja kept going. "Where is the one named Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?"

The wizards stood, slack jawed. They found getting in headquarters easy? Just how good were these guys?

"How do you know one of us isn't Dumbledore?" The deep voice of Kingsley asked. Although the wizards didn't see it, the ninja all tensed in anger, all with the same thought running through their minds. _Again with the tests?_

"We were the squad assigned to protect our Hokage at the time of the meeting between the two. We know who he is, but where is he is what I'm asking.

"Dumbledore isn't here at the moment, he has pressing buisness else where. Meeting hired guards is not the top of his to-do list," Snape drawled, over his shock at seeing the ninja and trying to remain aloof.

Naruto frowned behind his mask. They were not mere guards. At the minimum they were diplomats from a foreign country, how dare they be treated as such! It took all of his training under the five Kages to not explode at these _wizards._

"Well, if we are not important enough to fit into his _schedual_," He hissed, anger seeping through despite his efforts, " our contract with him states we are to only recieve orders from him and he would have some form of communication with us. Which one of you are second in command and can give us this information as well as debreif us on the situation, our targets, location, enemy's forces and skills,as well as any other factors you deem _important _enough to tell the hired guards." The wizards visible recoiled at the hostility in his voice. Sirius frowned, didn't Albus tell them that they were battle hardened warriors? Why did they continue to test them like this? Stepping foreward, he decided to end all the mind games.

"My name is Sirius Black and I am the owner of this establishment," he said, striding foreward with his arm outstreched. Naruto stared at it for a moment before remembering this was one of their customs, to shake hands when greeting somebody. Senseing no ill-intent, he placed his hand in his and gripped it gently, he didn't want to hurt the man.

Sirius stuggled to keep a straight face as a grip like iron encurcled his hand. This man was strong! Shaking the man's hand he stepped back, not wanting to endure the grip much longer. The one in front was sligtly shorter than him, but he could see bright blue eyes staring back at him. Eyes full of painful memories and hardened with battle. These were wise eyes. He was interrupted from his observations however when Snape walked up beside him.

"I have the information to give to you, but no one here is in command. We deliberate and choose the best possible outcome by majority vote." He stated, handing over a roll of parchment. Let them see the wonders of democracy, not the iron clad law of a dictator. To his surprise, it was one of the ones behind him who answered.

"It sounds ineffecive. How are decisions made quickly? Espcially in a time of war, a ranking system or heriachy is needed. Letting everyone have their say sounds ideal, but thats just what it is, idealism." The voice almost sounded bored, but the way he held himself screamed alert. Inside Snape was scowling, inside, Naruto was laughing. Gotta love having Shikamaru on your team.

Naruto read the scroll or 'parchment' as they called it, quickly. Memorizing it, he handed the scroll to Kakashi, who burned it instantly with a small fire jutsu. Whispers broke out at the act of magic without a wand, call or even a hand gesture. Dumbledore could do magic without a wand or naming the spell, but he still needed to use his hands to direct the magic.

"Why did you burn it?" Snape demanded. The leader had had it for only a few seconds before it was burned. "Don't the others need to read it?" Naruto stared him down from behind his mask. Although the full effect was lost, he was sure the man could still sense it.

"I am squad leader. Any information may create a paper trail and must be destroyed. I will give my subordinates the information necessary to complete our mission. I have memorized the orders given to us by Mr Dumbledore. We will begin immediately. For ease of communication we will tell you the names by which to call us. You will only see me patroling but do not make the mistake of thinking I am the only one here. You will not be able to see them, but my squad will always be watching. We are the best of the best. We will do this mission that was agreed upon, even though the method used was disgusting and dishonorable, and we will suceed, as our Hokage commanded us to."

The wizards stared at the squad of highly trained killers with fear and awe. Obviously their leader didn't feel the need to hide how their arrangement came about, which meant that they were unwilling to be here, But their... Hoe-car-gay, was it? ordered them to complete their mission, so that meant they would right?

"The members of my squad are Dove," A man stepped forward into the light. The wizards memorized his mask and hair, for it was the only way to tell the difference between them. "He is our scouting specialist. Nothing, animal, human or 'magic' will be able to get past him." at that the man vanished. The wizards looked around, fear making their necks nearly crack at the speeds in which they turned. "I told you, you will not see us. The man with the spinning eye might, but I advise against it. You are unused to viewing our special type of 'magic'"

The wizards stopped trying to find the missing ninja and instead stared at Moody, who had his magic eyeball out of it's socket and was rubbing his forehead. How had they known he could see through walls?

"Next is Deer." The one with the bored sounding voice stepped forward, his hair was styled in a way that looked like a pineapple. "He is our team strategest. He will plan every move we make and counter every one of the enemies." Once again, the ninja vanished. The slight gust of wind the only inidication he was there.

"Dog," The man who caught Mrs Weasley stepped out. His hair must of been held up by an entire bottle of hair spray. "Combat specialist and 'magic' expert. Has fought through more wars and battles than any of us." The masked man left, leaving only the blonde haired one.

"I am Fox. Team leader as well as diplomatic influence. It was debated that a person with enough political power behind them come on this mission to avoid any... misunderstandings. I speak for my team as well as my leader, the Hokage and all the Kages of the Five Great Elemental Nations. I speak for the Elemental Nations." The wizards stared at the man before them. They had just made a strong political move, to send someone with the surrport of the entire Ninja Nation's behind him, would make things difficult in trying to get them to stay.

"Know this, wizards." The mans voice brought them back. " The way you have acted in the only two encounters between our peoples for the last one hundred years, is disgusting. We are an honor-bound people and we hold oue values in high esteem. You people have come to us, asked for our help, and have resourced to using trickery to gain our aide. Not only that, knowing this was an already delicate situation, you decide to make us jump through hoops to make sure we are worth your time. May I remind you that it was _you _who came to _us. _Cease with these immature and pointless trials. We will do this mission, do not worry. But your actions have destryed any sort of alliance between out two worlds." Naruto's voice was quiet, but it struck the witches and wizards like a physical blow.

"Any and all information you have on your enemy will be required as well as the location of each of your quarters and the quarters of the ones we were hired to primarily protect."

Some wizards heads hung in shame, unable to meet the fierce gaze of that mask. Snape was sneering and Siriua was growling lightly.

"And what kind of position do you have to demand such things from us?" Sirius snarled, outraged at this stranger for demanding things from him, in his own house.

"I am Fox, leader of this mission," The masked man replied stonily. "That is all you need to know and all you will hear from me. Mr Dubledore will be informed of my poisition in my world, but wether or not he decideds to discuss it with the like of you, is not my buisness. I am here to guard the boy. Not to prove myself to you people or play nice."

Angry silnce descended on the room, before a chuckle broke out.

"Now, now Mr Fox, is that any way to talk to your employer?" The wizards whirled to see Albus Dumbledore standing in the grate of the fireplace. Just as their shocked gazes landed on him however, he was surrounded by the missing guards, each holding a kunai to various vital points on his body. Dumbleodre froze as he felt the cool metal prick his skin, his face however did not show the fear he felt, instead continued smiling warmly at the room.

_"Dog, Deer, Dove, Stand down." _At their leaders commands the weapons were sheathed and the ninja stepped back before disappearing. The assembled magic people were confused as to what just happened, for only a few seconds had transpired. Feeling the absence of the sharp metal on him, Dumbledore strode forward, the very image of wisdom and confidence.

He stopped in the no-man's land that had appeared between the two arguing parties and silently studied the ninja he had hired. Even with the mask, he looked younger than his guess of about forty that the best must be at. The skin was smooth and with no scars, hair was a sunny shade of blonde, without a hint of grey. This man must be exceptional to have made it to ANBU captain as young a he has. He put his age around late twenties, early thirties. The Ho-car-gay of Koh-no-hah had given him the credentials and acheivements of the leader, and it impressed him that much more if he was barely thirty. He smiled brightly at the masked assassin.

"Now Mr Fox, is there a problem with your mission?" he asked pleasantly. Naruto was instantly reminded of being scolded by Iruka-sensei back at the academy.

"No, Sir. There is no problem. Please address me as Fox." he replied back, in the form one does to address a commanding officer, though rather stiffly.

"Well then, Mr Fox," Dumbled continued, ignoring Fox's request. He needed to show some authority. "I shall introduce you to the Order members assembled-"

"No need to, sir. We have sufficient intel on each member assembled. We did our homework," Naruto grinned behind his mask at the jab. The man deserved it. He was sure Dumbledore remembered the conversation he held with Tsunade. If the comment bothered him then he did not show it. Instead he turned to the members of the Order once again.

"My fellow witches and wizards. We are extremely lucky to have these visitors from the legendary Elemental Nations with us to guard and protect us from Voldemort and his followers. Mr Fox here is quite capable in his own right, isn't that so?" Naruto clenched his teeth. The man was giving out way to much information. Did he not know that there could be traitors or cowards amongst his ranks? Intel was what decided wars. And this man was making a stupid move just to annoy him. He was going to have to be careful with what the old man heard or read, they did not need the entire world knowing they existed. Ninjas' worked in shadows. They lived and breathed in them, their villages were their only respite from it. They did not need every wannabe world ruler, knocking at their door trying to get them to follow their cause.

"Mr Fox is the next in line to become the ruler of the Land of Fire, the most powerful and prosperous land in the Elemental Nations. He is also the son of one of the previous leaders as well as been trained by their most powerful and influential figures," Dumbledore smiled at Fox, somewhat triumphantly. He had done his homework well. The assembled crowd stared at the boy. He was practically royalty!

Ignoring the stares, Naruto looked at the man who had hired them. He was not to be underestimated. He guessed that the man would do whatever it took to make sure the enemy was destroyed. He was one to be watched. Using the slightest of hand movements, he summoned a clone, henged as a fly and had it land on Dumbledore's shoulder. It would be best to have the man followed.

"If there is nothing else sir, I would like to get on with our job." Naruto said coldly, bowing slightly.

"Yes, yes, I wouldn't want to delay you from your work. This is unfortuantely the last time I will be able to meet with you before the new term starts, so for now you are to watch the boy, and protect this house. When you leave for the train you are to guard the students, and when you rrive at Hogwarts you are to guard the schol and it's grounds and then meet with me before the Welcoming Feast. Is that clear?"

Naruto straightened from his bow, no doubt this was another test of their skills, to see how farthey could go before breaking. Well, the man was in for a surprise. Giving a clipped "Sir!" Naruto vanished as well, leaving only the wizards in the kitchen.

...

The ANBU guards had decided to set up shop in the attic of number twelve Grimmauld Place. It was relitivley spacious, the majority of the area being taken up by boxes and crates full of things the ninja didn't want to know. There was no light, they didn't need any to see by. Having honed all their senses, the lack of sight was not uncomfortable.

"_What is our over-all impression of these 'wizards'?" _Naruto question was open to anyone to answer, but more directed at Shikamaru. He was the brains.

_"They'r frightened of us. That much is obvious. These little tests they are giving us are not to actually test us, but to give themselves the illusion of control over our actions. They want us to see they are powerful and clever, and most likely better than our leaders." _The deer masked man said tiredly. Things like this were so troublesome.

_"How are they planning to convince us that their rule is better than the one we live by?" _Neji asked, his eyes active, watching the house whilst they conversed.

_"My guess would be this 'democracy' government. The people have the power. Utterly senseless in a time of war, which we are trained for. I think they plan to glamour us away from the Elemental Nations by saying we have the power do decide how the government is run," _

Kakashi snorted. _"They don't realized that back home, we _do _practically assist in our Hokage's rule."_

_"That's another thing I've noticed, these people do not have any prominant female rulers. The 'Queen' of the non-magic community is a mere figure head, they have a bored of people who actually make decisions. They see females as inferior here. If they discover our leader and ruler is a woman, might make them see us is a lower regard. Also our age."_ Shikamaru explained. "_The coming of age in the magic community is seventeen, but they still attend school so they are not truely classed as adults. Here you are not an adult until eighteen, or twenty-one in most cases. Did you notice that they excluded the children in their discussion? As well as the meeting with us? Revealing our faces will undermine our positions as they will think us unable to fill our roles due to our youth."_

_"Except for me," _Kakashi smiled. _"I may not be as old as the majority of them, but if they require one of us to take off our masks, I will do it. They shouldn't complain and insist the taicho's comes off, in their society, age means would be incomphrensible to them that someone a decade younger than me is my superior."_

_"This whole mission sucks." _Naruto grumbled. The lack of nature chakra worried him, as well as concern over his home. This whole mission didn't feel right. He understood it was an incredibly important international issue, but he would much rather be fighting on the front lines. He wanted to face _them. _Three years later and the wounds were still as fresh and raw as if they had been inflicted just minutes ago. He was a broken man, but he hid it well, for the sake of his team, for the sake of his loved ones, for the sake of the village.

_"I think I hear something," _Kakashi said, effectivly gaining everyone's attention.

"_It is the Potter boy. He is having an argument with two other children, I assume they are his friends the Granger girl and youngest Weasley boy. They are drawing the attention of the others excluded from the meeting in the kitchen." _Dove replied, watching as the weak chakra networks of three other children join the three that were arguing with his Byakugan.

"_I shall send out my clones and have them henge into ordinary items and insects. A couple shall be in each room, so that'll save us having to patrol and focus on information gathering. Deer, you shall set up camp here and collect the information my clones give you, I'll leave one here so it can recieve information and you'll have a shogi partner." _ Shikamaru grinned under his mask. He may not say it often enough, but he would rather no other as captain of his team. Naruto made sure the mission was done as well as the comfort of his team. He thought that he would be stuck up here, bored, going through all the books and reading material they could get their hands on. But with his clones, it made filing the most important information so much easier.

"_Dove, I want you to keep an eye on our primary target and it's colleagues. Their every move I want reported to me." _Dove nodded and settled down, closing his eyes he focused on his targets. That's all they were to them, targets. They had learned long ago not to get attached and personalizing their objectives, it causes way to much damage if a mission fails, or if they are ordered to assassinate them.

"_Dog, your with me. We shall be collecting information from hard copies. We will be hitting each room one at a time, and grabbing every book we can find. Use a genjutsu or henge another object to replace the ones we take so our 'client' isn't aware of what we're up to."_ Dog nodded. His Sharingan made it easy to collect information. All he had to do was glance at a page with it activated and the information was stored away in his head. Of course, being a prodigy and a genuis, he did have photographic memory and could remember every little detail of everything he came across in perfect clarity. It made ambushing or pranking him so much harder for Naruto.

_Remember this is a double-objective mission. We fill out the perameters set by Dumbledore as well as the reconassance mission given to us by the Kages. If any trouble arises get alert me immediately. Each of you will have a clone with you at all time to recieve any messages I wish to send. This way our communication cannot be intercepted by enemy or temprary ally."_

Kakashi smiled proudly at his former student. This method was one of the reasons their squad was so efficient. Naruto had honed his Shadow Clone Jutsu to an unbelievable level. Requiring no handsigns and no calling of the name that the vast majority of people needed to do to focus their chakra. Using the clones ability to remember any information it sees and once dispersed, tranfers it to the original and any other clones made, he had made the perfect communication system. Each clone would recieve information from a dispersed clone, and the clones with the group would recieve it. For the group members to send information back, all they had to do was tell their message to the clone, and the clone would make a another and disperse it immediatly, tranfering messages instantly and with no threat of enemies hi-jacking their information and either reading it or tampering with it. It was an ingenious use of the jounin level jutsu, and no one but Naruto could pull it off.

_"Fox," _Dove interrupt arubtly. "_The wizards have concluded their meeting and are converging in the hallway." _Fox nodded, not seeing the importance. _"Our target is moving towards them, __trying __to be silent. My guess is in hopes to overhear something. From the way the wizards excluded them, they must know nothing about us and probably very little about the war."_

Fox scratched the back of his head. A habit, Shikamaru noticed, that indicated he was thinking.

_"Change of plans. Dog, whist their occupied, go and gather information from the rooms that have been left unattended. Dove, you go with him, I'll set up my clones and then head out. Dog, your with me. We'll trail the young wizards and see what we can overhear as well. If the older wizards are paranoid enough they might think the younger ones are enemies and try to attack them. I'd rather not fail this mission when we've barely started." _Fox sighed. Seriously, why did these wizards have to make life so hard for them? His team nodded in afirmation of their orders, and at once, they all dissappeared.

...

Fox and Dog watched as the red headed one stopped his companions on the landing outside of the room they had just exited. He carefully looked over the banister at the hallway below that was packed with witches and wizards. They were whispering excitedly, no doubt from the recent visit from them and Dumbledore. In the very centre of the group, the man named Severous Snape was talking with their employer, Dumbledore. The reaction of the Potter by was interesting. Countless emotions flashed across his face, starting with shock, then relief, the bewilderment before finally settling on anger. The boys hands were curled into tight fists and his body was shaking with barely repressed rage. The two ninjas noted this reaction down.

A thin piece of flesh-colored string decended from the two boys that were standing on the landing above Potter and his friends. They were lowering it down to slowly though, because the all the witches and wizards began to move towards the open front door and out of sight.

"Dammit," they heard one of the identical red-haired boys say, as he pull the string back up again. Both ninjas decided to investigate that string at a later date. The ANBU watched as the younger trio move towards the door, where three of the magic users; Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Mrs Weasley, who had obviously recovered from her fainting spell, were waving those sticks around and from the looks of it, resealing the many locks and bolts behind the wizards who just left.

"We're eating down in the kitchen," Mrs Weasley said to the three as she met them at the bottom of the stairs. "Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the haal it's right through this door here -"

CRASH

This answered a questioned that had been nagging at the back of Naruto's mind for a while now. Why everyone was so quiet in the hall, resorting to hushed whispers and careful tiptoeing. As Molly Weasley chatised the Nymphadora woman who had just knocked over an umbrella stand, an ear-splitting screech filled the sir.

Heavy, velvet curtainsthat were hanging in the hall had flown open on their own, revealing a horrific woman. The life sized portrait was alive, and the woman with a black cape was screaming as if she was a victim of Ibiki. Her blood-curling screech echoed throught the house. The drooling, wide eyed woman continued her banshee likeshriek,and instantly the other member of his squad were beside him. Naruto was tempted to clap his hands over his ears, his hightened senses suffering under the onslaught of the womans piercing screams. Two of the wizards darted forwrd and each grabbed the curtain, and tried in vain to close it. The woman cursed at them in that horrible nails on a chalkboard voice. The ninja's managed to understand a few of the womans words over the Tonks woman apologizing, the grunts of effort from the two magic beings and the yells of the other portraits, who had also awoken as soon as the woman started screeching.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place!" Naruto tuned out. He had heard the same thing said to him, over and over, when he was younger, he did not need to hear it now. The Weasley woman abandoned her attempt at closing the curtain, and instead ran down the hall, shooting what seemed to be a red light from her stick that silenced the other portraits. On closer insepction the individuals in the portraits seemed to have been knocked unconcious. They must investigate the different types of spells this world had.

As the ninja watched, the Sirius man came charging out of the door opposite the Potter boy. Grabbing hold of the side of the curtain that the woman abandoned, he yelled straight back at the screeching woman. The old woman's eyes bulged and directed her insults at the Black man. The ninja watched the muscles of the two men straining as the curtain refused to close. Naruto came to a decision.

_"Now would be the best time to reveal myself to the Potter boy. Plus this screeching is giving me a migraine. Him knowing I'm here will make it easier to watch him and easier to gather information. I also want to find out why he doesn't like Dumbledore"_ His team was silent for a moment, each thinking over the pros and cons of such an idea. A short time later, they all nodded in agreement, somewhat reluctanly though. They were not in the habit of revealing themselve to the ones they were meant to watch, bu this would make it easier to keeps tabs on the boy, especially once they head to this 'Hogwarts." Naruto grinned and shunshin'd down to the people in the hall.

...

Sirius struggled to close the velvet curtain over his screeching mother. The old woman was as stubborn as hell. Opposite him he saw Remus struggling to close his side of the curtain as well. It seemed the woman was determined to be heard this time.

"Need some help?" Sirius tunred too fast and lost his hold on the curtain, the resulted flaring made Lupin lose his grip as well. The heavy drapes, free from the force trying to close it, billowed out as if a fierce wind was blowing through the house. The woman screeched in triumph, and her voice double in volume. Sirius glared at the fox masked ninja. Thanks to him distracting them, it would take at least four people to get the curtains closed.

Ignoring the glares of the exhausted wizards, the ninja walked up to the portrait. The woman paused momentarily in her screaming, examining the newest person to desecrate her beloved house. Identifying him as no one she knew, she continued her ranting. If this went on for much longer, Naruto swore his ears would start bleeding. Grabbing either side of the curtains, he drew them shut smartly, without any visible effort what so ever.

Sirius and Lupin gaped at the display of strength. This was the power if the ninja? They would have to be careful around them. Remembering that his godson was standing behind him, Sirius swept his long, dark hair out of his face and greeted him, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Hello, Harry," he said. "I see you've met my mother and Fox."

Harry stared dumbly. "Your-?"

"My dear old mum,yes," said Sirius. "We've been trying to get her down for ages but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas."

"Why is a picture of your mother here?"

"Oh, you don't know? Well then, let me welcome you to the ancestrial home of the noble house Black," Sarcasm practically dripped off his words. "I'm the only Black left so it's mine now. I've lent it to Dumbledore to use as headquarters - the only useful thing I've been able to do." Resentment was heavy in his godfather's voice, so Harry decided to change subjects.

"And who is Fox?" Harry asked pointing to the blonde man in the strange mask, who was studying the portrait.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing? Do you want her to wake up again?" Sirius demanded of the ninja. The man ignored him and continued studying the curtains and picture.

Examinging the portrait, Naruto could sense the strong, sticky like chakra at the back of the canvas that was gluing it to the wall. The dampening chakra that kept the potrait quiet was just stong enough to hold it back. Any loud noise, like the Nymphadora woman knocking over the umbrella stand, would awaken the screeching woman inside. He could sense some sort of barrier over the painting though, that would protect it from people who wished to destroy it. He whistled lowly, this was a stubborn woman indeed.

Hearing the man whistle, Harry took the time to observe him. His clothing was _strange. _And he thought that wizards dressed weirdly! The black pants were slightly baggy, but bandages held the loose ends of the hems close to his skin. His skin tight, sleevless shirt was covered by a strange kind of armor. And on his left shoulder that had been left bare, a symbol was etched into his skin.

"Do you want the woman taken care of?" The man asked Harry's godfather, in an seemingly casual voice, as if asking him for a cup of sugar. Sirius stared. He could actually remove the powerful charm that hept his mother there? He could be bluffing though, or trying so show off his strength. Narrowing his eyes, the last member of the Black family nodded.

Recieving the go ahead, Fox removed what seemed to be a knife from one of the holsters that was strapped to his thighs. Harry stared at the weapon in amazment. It gleamed in the dim lighting making it look sinister and deadly. If he knew who the man was, he would know it was the traditional weapon of their trade.

The kunai adopted a light blue glow as Naruto channeled chakra through it. It was one of the special knunai knives which had the seals on it that enabled them to cut through chakra strings. Lifting the back of the portrait gingerly, he swifty cut though the sticky chakra.

Sirius watched open mouthed as the man was able to lift the portrait centimeters of the wall. No one, not even Dumbledore, had been able to budge that painting an inch. The knife he had drawn had started to glow a soft blue. Then quicker than his eye could follow, sliced down the gap betwen the portrait and the wall. Sirius sensed the magic that held his mother's painting attached to the wall disappear. Using inhuman reflexes, Fox caught the painting as it fell to the floor. As he pulled it from the curtains, Sirius winced in preparation of his mother's screeching, but as the canvas was pulled out, he heard it.

Nothing.

His mother's painting no longer held any magic. It had been turned into a common muggle painting. The image was still, and he was surprised to see his mother's portrait. The woman was smiling. He had never seen her smile so softly. It completely transformed her face. Her eyes, no longer bulging and rolling in their sockets, had a spark of light in them. Her skin, no longer drawn taught due to her constant frowning, was smooth and unblemished. Her hair, no longer fraying and limp was decorated in an elaborate hairstyle that framed her face. This was his mother. It took him a few seconds to realize that Fox was handing the portrait to him.

Taking it with incredible care, as if it would explode the second he touched it, Sirius accepted the painting. Unable to form a proper thank you, he mumbled something about needing some time and shuffled into a room further down the hall, leaving Harry and Fox alone on the landing.

"Uh, Are you part of the Order?" Harry asked tentivly to the silent man. The man turned to look at him, well he thought it was at him, it was hard to tell with that mask on.

"No," the man said after a while, before turning on his heel and walking in the direction of the kitchen. Harry hurried to follow, he was starving. Following his silent guide to the vottom of the steps and through a door, they entered the basement kitchen.

Naruto's lip curled inside his mask. The only thing that had changed in the cramped room was the table had been strewn with with scrolls and other bits of paper. The wizards probably brought them our after they had left. Why were they hiding information from them? The husband of the woman who fainted and one of his son's had their head bent over one such scroll. A cursiory glance told him it was the plan of a building. '_Interesting' _he thought. They had already started with skirmishes against them enemy. The building must have some importance. Mrs Weasley, stood at the stove, cleared her thoat loudly.

"Harry!" Mr Weasley said, hurrying foreward and using his body to block the boy's view of the table. The wizard nodded in greeting to the silent ninja, who tilted his head in acknowledgement. When they properly assessed the house, his team would have that information so there was no point to reading it now, other than to ruffle some feathers.

The boy who was conversing with Arthur, huridly snatched the blueprints off the table. but not before Harry had a glimpse at the maps. Naruto watched as the Potter boy processed this information and keep it to himself. Pbviously he knew asking about it would get him nowhere.

Harry ignored Mrs Weasly scolding her husband and her son about the parchment left on the table, instead he focused his attention to the man dressed in black. He stood about a head and a half taller than him, was thin but he could see the muscles rippling under his skin tight shirt. Deciding to stop the enevitable explosion from Mrs Wealsey, whilst also getting his curiosity satisfied, he voiced his question.

"Who is he?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Japanese Talking_

English talking

* * *

><p>Team Alpha had settled into their routine and life in general, at number twelve Grimmauld Place. Naruto had a minimum of a half dozen clones in each room, henged into every day, ordinary objects, that kept surveillance twenty-four seven. Clones, henged into flies, mosquitoes and other inconspicuous insects, followed every person in the house that wasn't a part of the ANBU squad. Neji kept vigil over the perimeter over the house, as well as discovering the many hidden places the wizards had stashed information about their efforts. When he had to rest, clones patrolled the perimeter, but they did not have the effectiveness of the Byakugan. Shikamaru was designated information organizer. Each of the wizards had written their own notes and opinions about Harry and Voldemort, and the lazy ninja had the task of separating fact from fiction. The Ronald Weasley child had quite an imagination. When Shikamaru needed to take a break, a clone would become his shogi partner; it was relaxing for him and it was tactical planning training for Naruto. Kakashi was responsible for compiling a profile for each of the members of the Order, as well as learning as much about the magical world: spells, curses, magical animals, which the Five Great Ninja nations didn't already possess. He had already discovered what could possibly be a boggart and a curtain full of Doxys' in the same room as well as what was called a Hipogriff in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He shivered when he remembered that this was the clean version of the house.<p>

Harry and the other children attending Hogwarts had a slight disagreement with the idea of protection through this year and the following few. That was an enormous understatement. The twins had complained loudly, and expressively. They were of age, why did they need protection? Since Fox was the only visible guard, he was the focus of their pranks. Rather pathetic pranks in his opinion but then, he was the master. Ron and Hermione had debated furiously, Mrs. Weasley ended up having to resort to grounding them. Ron without his chess, Hermione without her books. She wanted her books bad. The symbol that was carved into their guard's skin triggered a memory and she was determined to figure out who this person was. Both had been subdued quite quickly. Harry had protested loudly, saying that these guards would have no chance against the dark lord, and then he descended into a furious silence. Refusing to talk to anyone except Sirius and the others who were to be guarded. And even then it was short, clipped answers. He had attempted to overhear conversations and meetings, but the Imperturbable charm had been perfected so no sounds whatsoever left that room, and the flesh colored strings that the twins had invented, Extendable Ears, had no chance. The ninja had commandeered a few of these for the Research and Development department in Konoha. They would come in handy in the future.

The days flew by, not quickly, but faster than Harry would have liked. Before he knew it, it was the day of his disciplinary hearing. Today he would stand before the Ministry and argue his innocence and if he failed, he might be expelled from Hogwarts forever. He lay in his bed, turbulent thoughts swirling in his mind until, unable to continue thinking about it; he jumped out of bed and put on his glasses. Stumbling around the room slightly, he found his freshly washed jeans and shirt.

Fox/Naruto watched from the shadowed corner of the room. He wasn't even putting any effort into hiding, the dim light of the barely rising sun and the boy's already unfocused mind allowed him to remain unseen. The previous night they had been visited by their contractor.

Dumbledore had explained the situation with the Potter boy. And that they were strictly forbidden from escorting him to the hearing. Needless to say, they were very annoyed at this new order. Their mission was to guard the boy. How could they do that if they couldn't follow him or even be in the same part of town as him? Explaining this to the old, bearded man had no effect on his decision though. The hearing was to take place at the Ministry of Magic. Dumbledore wished that the Alpha squad remain secret from the local government for as long as possible. The Leaf ninja agreed this was a good solution. They hated dealing with local police and law enforcement. They made unnecessary demands and restrictions, not to mention the fact that this government would most likely use everything in its power to try and get them to remain in this world for the sake of their little war.

Understanding Dumbledore's reasoning didn't mean they agreed with the situation. Before anymore protests could be voiced however, Naruto agreed that the Potter boy will go to the Ministry without an ANBU escort. Dumbledore thanked them and then left. Instantly Naruto could feel the gazes of his team on him.

"What? He said we couldn't escort Potter into the Ministry, our contract _did _say that we were responsible for the other individuals that are residing here. Plus, we won't be escorting him; we will be on a recon mission for our country. We will just happen to do this on the same time and day that Potter has his trial." He could still feel their gazes on him, and heard Shikamaru sigh. He grinned "We're ninja; going into a super top secret enemy government base is what we do for a living…"

"Troublesome."

And so, as Harry opened the door to the kitchen, it was to greet the alert and wary faces of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin and Sirius. The tension filled silence was broken by the creaking of the kitchen door as Harry opened it. Mrs. Weasley immediately started bustling around the kitchen, making breakfast for the boy. Sirius went and stood behind Harry and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. At least, it was meant to be comforting, the grip was a bit too strong to be moral support. Sirius was forbidden to go, he was a wanted criminal in this society, charged with a crime he didn't commit, but unable to prove otherwise. Lupin and Sirius kept talking to him, reminding him to behave and giving him advice and reassurances about the hearing. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were both silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

As Naruto watched the uncomfortable atmosphere from the shadows, he made a clone. The clone was to remain at the house so Dumbledore would think they were still guarding the place whilst Harry was away. He sent the clone into the kitchen.

Silence fell about the group as the guard entered the kitchen. Harry watched as the fox masked man walked up to Sirius.

"Mr. Dumbledore has requested that we do not accompany you to the Ministry today."

The tense silence was replaced with shock.

"He what? Why?" demanded Sirius. He didn't like the guards that much; they were too quiet, too shifty to be able to trust them fully. But they were strong, and very, very skilled. Removing his mother's portrait without any effort was proof of that. He felt slightly better when he thought that these powerful people would be protecting his godson when he went to the hearing.

"He wishes that our presence and purpose remain hidden from the officials of this world and feels that this is the best option. We will remain here, watching over the building, and wait for your return." With that he turned and walked out the kitchen. The room was left stunned. Mr. Weasley checked his watch.

"Nothing we can do about that. Harry, it's time to go," he said. Harry nodded and dropped his barely eaten toast. He couldn't eat with his stomach full of butterflies.

"How are we getting there?" Harry asked as he grabbed his coat.

"Well I usually Aparate into work, but I thought today we would take a nice walk." Mr. Weasley mumbled, grabbing his coat. Mustering up a half-hearted wave, Harry said goodbye to Lupin and Sirius and left Grimmauld Place.

...

"_Targets have left base and are proceeding on foot_." A crackly voice spoke to him through his wireless headset.

"_Understood, confirm positioning, Dog, Deer, Dove. Over."_ He commanded. He was in his element. Finally a break from the monotonous patrolling and information gathering. This was what he excelled in, what he was born for. Reconnaissance, breaking into enemy bases, the fear of being caught and the adrenaline when you succeed. Blending and working with shadows. Knowing that what you're doing will be vital in your overall mission, and knowing that the people who you command trust you with their lives. This was ninja work.

"_Dog. Henged, civilian, following targets from side street, minimum ten meters, maximum twenty. Confirmed. Over."_

"_Deer. Henged, cat, following targets from fence line, minimum five meters, maximum ten. Over."_

"_Dove. Henged, owl, following targets from air, targets in sight, range of vision two kilometers. Over."_

"_Positions confirmed. Fox, no henge. Following though shadows. Report every ten minutes and if you lose sight of targets. When we arrive at location, convene on my position. Any suspicious activity, report to me before any action taken. Move out."_

"_**Yes, sir!" **_

* * *

><p>"Congratulations to Ron and Hermione! The new Gryffindor prefects!" Mrs. Weasley celebrated. It was the happiest the ninja had seen her since they had arrived. It was the day before they were set to go to Hogwarts. Harry's trial had gone well; he was cleared of all charges and allowed to return to school.<p>

The recon/escort mission had uncovered many things. The Minister seemed to feel threatened by Dumbledore. These were the two main players in the cold civil war. Fudge didn't want to acknowledge Voldemort's return, which is the cause of the disagreement. After Albus decided to step in on Harry's behalf, the case was declared over. The minister seemed to be taking most of his advice from a woman who in Naruto's opinion, looked like Gamabunta's descendant, and a man who was most likely related to Orochimaru in some way. They both seemed to dislike Harry enormously.

Their investigation was cut short however when Naruto felt his decoy clone dissipate. Dumbledore wasn't as trusting or as naïve as they thought. Fox quickly made a clone and commanded one of the clones that were patrolling to reveal itself, and his team hurried back to Grimmauld Place. Not before leaving a good number of clones, henged, to continue exploring the Ministry of course. Dumbledore had to accept their reasoning as he had no proof they weren't there.

The book lists and prefects badges had arrived that morning, causing much celebration and goodwill. The Weasley woman decided to hold a party, inviting most of the Orders members. As Moody walked in, Mrs. Weasley bustled over to him and took his coat.

"Oh, Alastor! I'm so glad you could come! We've been meaning to ask you for ages but could you check the writing table in the drawing room for us? There's something inside it and we didn't want to open it in case it was something really dangerous."

Moody grimaced slightly and pulled out a case containing his glass eye. He had taken to not wearing it when he came to Headquarters, the ninja's magic was everywhere and he felt like his head would explode if he looked at it for too long.

"Sure, Molly." He popped his eye in place. "Drawing room… drawing room… Desk in the corner? Yeah, that's a boggart. Want me to take care of it for you?"

Mrs. Weasley declined and started gesturing towards the party and proudly showed off her son. Moody removed his eye and walked up to Ron and started talking about jinxes and authority figures, mainly what happened when they met. The two eldest Wesley men came through the door, and the party started. The ninja watched from the shadows, they had finished going through all the information that the Order's Headquarters could offer them, all they could do now was watch over their targets and wait until tomorrow. Naruto had even dispelled his clones that were following the order members around. Anything to prevent the boredom and laziness that came with doing nothing. His spy clones that had invaded the Ministry had all dissipated when they tried to get into a specific department. He noted that if they ever got the chance to go back into the Ministry, they would check out the Department of Mysteries.

Naruto was watching Harry. Watching him, it gave him chills. He reminded him too much of people he would rather forget… or kill. He knew the back story of the child and knew the look of someone who wanted revenge. He hated that look. A photo was withdrawn from the depths of Alistair Moody's pocket and shown around the group. When it reached the Potter boy, his face instantly dropped. Harry got up, and after giving a feeble excuse to the wizard with the magic eye, he left the room. Naruto nodded to his Shikamaru and Neji, and silently left to follow the boy. Kakashi had followed the Weasley woman when she had left earlier.

Naruto followed the boy up the stairs to the second landing. He looked deep in thought and somewhat disturbed. His concentration was broken however as he passed the drawing room and the sobbing noise that Naruto had been aware of ever since mounting the stairs, became known to him.

"Hello?" Harry ventured. There was no answer. Naruto silently and invisibly moved past the Potter boy and into the room. He took place in the shadowed corner next to Kakashi. He didn't need a report. What was happening was very apparent. Mrs. Weasley had decided to defeat the Bogart hiding in the dresser on her own, and was losing. Harry walked in to see Ron's mother crying over his dead body. The ninja watched as the color drained from his face and he lost the strength to stand, falling to the floor.

"N – No! No! R – riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed.

_Crack._

Ron Weasley's body turned into his father, and Molly Weasley cried harder. Naruto and Kakashi looked at each other. A Boggart showed one's worse fears. Their mission was to protect these people from anything that could harm them, that included things that could cause them serious distress.

Naruto materialized between Mrs. Weasley and the Boggart, just as Lupin, Moody and Sirius burst through the door, drawn by the hysterical sobbing. The Boggart contorted. It started shifting into so many different shapes and forms; they all blurred and merged together.

Harry watched stunned. A boy with jet black hair walked forward, his eyes were red with swirling black shapes in them.

"_You are no brother to me, Naruto. Mark my words, I will kill you," _Harry couldn't understand what the boy was saying, but the hatred and malice in the words was obvious. The boy morphed and turned into a snake that lunged as it changed. Next the shape changed to that of a woman with bright pink hair. The snakes lunge turned into a seductive walk, the words whispered softly.

"_He means more to me than anything, than you. Naruto, __if I kill you, he will love me. I am not sorry." _Harry watched as the man named Fox seemed to stiffen then tremble. Harry's focus then went back to the boggart which was changing once again, this time the bodies were no longer alive. A woman with blonde pigtails was mutilated in the middle of the floor, the sight was so gruesome Harry couldn't look away, then a young boy with a blue scarf, a girl with purple eyes, a boy with red hair… so many dead people appeared before changing into another. Fox was shaking now, the other ninja had appeared behind him, silent and vigilant. Why wouldn't they stop this? Harry turned to see the adults looking in horror at what was before them; they were too transfixed to think to stop it. Mrs. Weasley still had her face hidden in her hands, crying to herself.

A maniacal laugh drew him back to the nightmarish scene unfolding before him. A man with bone white skin and snake like eyes stood in the center of the room. Fear flooded through Harry's body, this man reminded him of Voldemort so much. Skin started to flake away from his body, peeling back to reveal the black haired boy with red eyes again, the laugh changed to that of the boy's voice.

The Boggart contorted once again, so many fears this man had, which was the strongest…which… ah. That one.

The Boggart's form started to settle, as if it had just decided on the fear it wanted. Harry was left looking at a boy a little older than he was. No… this was no boy, this was a man. Cold, hardened blue eyes stared out of a scarred face framed with spikey blonde hair. A jolt went through him as he realized this was what Fox looked like without his mask. He was so young! In the corner of his eye he could see the adult wizards mouths open in astonishment.

Fox- Boggart smile triumphantly, before the grin turned feral. Blue eyes bled into red, and a red haze started to form around the body. Seven words were growled in plain English, so all could understand.

"**I'm not strong enough, I will fail****"**

Fox snapped to attention when the Boggart's nails started to lengthen and scars started to darken.

"Destroy it, now!" he commanded the wizards, his voice betraying nothing of the weak state he was in before. Released from their horror bound stupor, the wizards leapt into action. Waving their wands and shouting the spell, the Boggart disappeared in a puff of smoke. Silence enveloped the room, broken only by Mrs. Weasley's sobbing. Remus Lupin instantly went to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Molly, it was just a Boggart, just a stupid Boggart …"

"I see them dead all the time!" Mrs. Weasley cried into his shoulder. "In my dreams, all the time …"

Sirius and Moody were staring at the ninja. What they had just witnessed… They needed to talk to these ninja. Lupin looked up from Molly to Harry.

"Harry, take Mrs. Weasley to her room. Calm her down." He said. Harry frowned. They were going to talk to the ninjas and wanted him out the room. He was being excluded again!

"We'll let you know anything important later, right now Molly needs you." Sirius said, unusually firm. Harry nodded and helped Mrs. Weasley to her feet, muttering reassurances. As he helped her out the drawing room, he cast a look back at the room, before the door shut firmly behind him. Lupin waved his wand and an Imperturbable Charm coated the room.

Instantly the ninja went on guard. Shikamaru muttered 'troublesome' under his breath. This had no good outcome. They were compromised.

"How old are you?" asked Sirius softly, gaze intent on Fox. He couldn't be older than twenty, but those eyes… they were they eyes of a man who has lived an eon.

"I am seventeen in October." Fox replied. Moody let out a little laugh.

"Sixteen. Sixteen! We are receiving protections from teenagers! What next? Infants joining the Ministry?" He asked no one in particular. Lupin stepped forward.

"How old are the rest of you?" The ninja looked to Naruto before answering. He nodded.

"I am eighteen." Replied Dove.

"Seventeen," Deer sighed.

"Twenty-Nine and one year," was Dog's reply. Naruto filed that away, he never knew how old Kakashi was. It was obvious he disliked naming himself thirty. Who didn't? In their profession not many ninja on active duty saw past thirty-five.

"You take orders from someone who is nearly half your age?" demanded Moody. "Why?"

"He is my superior and designated team leader by my Hokage. I do what I'm told."

"Why weren't you, who would have so much more experience and knowledge and maturity, be made head of the team?"

Dog shrugged, "He's stronger than me." Moody opened his mouth again.

"You forget!" Fox interrupted, before Alastor had a chance to speak. "Our culture and society is different to yours! What may seem wrong and abhorrent to you is normal and natural to us. You begin training your witches and wizards at age eleven, yes?" he asked the three wizards. They nodded.

"We start training to be ninja at six. This means I have a decade of experience in my field of expertise, which is more than any of your students here and most of your members. I am also the next Hokage to my village, the most powerful and respected person in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Our lives revolve around fighting and warfare. Do not judge me on my age alone." His voice was firm and confident, with a hint of anger.

Lupin let out a breath. "He has a point. Heck, Harry defeated You-Know-Who when he was eleven."

"You can't be suggesting we listen to this – this boy?"

"They have shown they are more than capable, and Dumbledore trusts them, so we have no reason not to." Sirius put in.

"I don't like it," growled Moody, seeing he was out voted.

"If you don't like it, you're free to guard the train, students, and grounds and Potter boy by yourself if you like." The boy with the deer mask said lazily. Inside he was secretly glowing with pride. Naruto had grown so much. He handled that situation better than most diplomats would or could.

Moody growled. "Fine. But your age will stay between us three, four because Potter saw your face in the Boggart. Others will react worse than I have, and we can't afford to lose such powerful assets over a culture difference."

"Speaking of the Boggart …" Lupin said. Naruto stiffened, he knew this was coming. "What was that?"

"…" Naruto was silent, thinking before he answered. "My fears, my memories, my nightmares."

"What did the Boggart mean?"

"That is none of your business." He said coldly. "It has nothing to do with this mission and will not hamper or hinder us in anyway. Now, the Potter boy is returning, we leave it to you what to discuss with him." With that, the ninja blurred out the room. Sirius, Lupin and Moody just looked at each, all at a loss on what to do.

…

Naruto didn't sleep well that night. Memories he would rather forget wove in and out of his dreams, turning them into nightmares. Countless time he felt a fist coated in lighting plunge into his chest, countless time he felt a kunai slide into his ribs and then explode… and countless time the taste of pain, betrayal and loss burned him. A swirling red haze of hatred covered him, engulfing him. It took all of his will power to resist and shove away the delicious taste of power and revenge that it tempted him with.

He woke suddenly, sweat lightly dusting his brow. Years of intense training had enabled him to remain absolutely motionless as the last dregs of sleep left him and full awareness of his surroundings filtered through his senses, even from a sleep as turbulent as his. Neji was on watch, Shikamaru lay in the opposite corner and Kakashi was watching him intently. He swore under his breath.

"_Nightmares_?" His ex-sensei asked, lips barely moving, voice only heard by Naruto.

"_Nothing gets past you does it_?" Naruto said sarcastically, voice as quiet, if not quieter than Kakashi's. He didn't need to act in front of him. He was the one who knew the most about him, even how little that was. Kakashi knew how much past events had affected him.

"_Does Tsunade know you are still having them?" _Kakashi asked, suddenly serious.

"_Baa-chan has enough on her plate to worry about without me whining to her about a few bad dreams."_

"_But they're not just a few bad dreams, are they Naruto?"_

"…_No."_

"_Talk to me, you need to talk to someone."_

"_I talk to Ero-Sennin all the time."_

Kakashi looked at him sadly. "_Someone alive, Naruto. Someone who can offer you comfort." _

"_Are you offering to comfort me _Sensei?" He said the term scathingly. "_The legendary White Fang, lending a shoulder to cry on? Didn't know you had it in you. What, feeling guilty for abandoning my training and nearly getting me killed?"_

Kakashi frowned, "_That's not what happened and you know it. Stop blocking me out, stop being so angry at yourself!"_

"_And how do you know I'm angry at myself, oh wise Sensei?" _Naruto snapped, voice rising slightly. He caught Shikamaru snap his eyes open, waking from his slumber. The lazy ninja looked at the two, looked at Neji, nodded and then left with him, leaving former sensei and student alone together.

The two barely noticed.

"_The Boggart! You're worst fear is that you'll never be able to protect anyone! You'll never be good enough!"_

"_I'm not good enough!" _Naruto exploded. His chest heaved with the weight and intensity of his emotions. Kakashi just stared at him calmly. Finally, the dam had broken.

"_Ero-Sennin is dead! Orochimaru is still alive; we are in the middle of the largest war to ever hit the Elemental Nations! Akatsuki is still after me and the two people, who meant the world to me, want me dead! I couldn't save Sasuke, and I couldn't… Sakura… I – I couldn't even …" _Kakashi watched as the energy left Naruto and he sagged to the floor. The dog masked ANBU gently put an arm around his shoulders.

"_Tell me about the nightmares." _He said softly. Naruto tensed, and then slowly relaxed.

"_They're memories mostly. Chidori and Sakura Blossom over and over again. The fox… The fox is feeding off them, getting stronger from my negative feelings. Every time I relive the moments, the feelings of sadness and hatred, it – it makes him stronger. He's," _He fell silent for a few moments.

"_I think he's trying something…"_

…

Neji and Shikamaru had relocated to the basement kitchen, and were observing the hectic commotion that was getting ready for school. They understood what was happening to Naruto. They had their own traumatic experiences and were helped through by close friends and family. But Naruto, Naruto had no-one. Those closest to him had abandoned or betrayed him in some way and all his family was dead. And his experiences… No one should ever have to go through what he did. Sure he had friends, lots of them too, but no one he could really open up to about everything. Tsunade and Iruka were the only ones Naruto really talked too, but recently, with the war, it had been hard to get even a little bit of time to talk about his past.

Naruto became an ANBU captain at fifteen. Youngest since Itachi Uchiha. He was still a gennin at fourteen. He had eliminated every distraction and had risen to the highest rank of ANBU within a year. As far as they know he even stopped visiting his favorite ramen store. He was purely focused on his work, to the point of obsession. They knew why. He needed to keep moving, keep distracted, and keep from thinking too hard about what had happened. When Jiraiya died a week after his promotion to captain, he almost shattered. Refusing to eat, and constantly taking assassination and hunting missions. It was near impossible to put him back together, especially when the killer of his godfather and last remaining member of his broken family, was his former crush, Haruno Sakura.

The ninja were brought out of their dark musings by a scream. The two leaf shinobi dashed to the source to see two trunks collide with the young Weasley girl. Her body was flung down the stairs by the impact like a rag doll. Her two elder twin brothers stood at the top of the stairs, wands out, looking down in horror as their little sister fell towards the first floor landing. Harry, Ron and Hermione had run out at the sound of a scream, the boys still half dressed, and could only stare as Ginny flew down the stairs.

Neji caught the girl before she hit the floor and Shikamaru grabbed the trunks before they did more damage. The trunks struggled before Shikamaru cut the spell that bound it with the chakra enhanced kunai they were each given.

Landing lightly on the floor, Neji set the girl down and looked her over. She had a small amount of blood leaking from a cut on her head and she was unconscious. Looked like a concussion.

"GINNY!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, running towards her youngest child. She took her daughter gingerly from the quiet ninja and started running her wand over her body. "We need to take her to St. Mungos." She said frantically. "She needs to be examined; she can catch the train later." She muttered to herself. The teenagers that were looking from the second floor ran down to the fallen girl.

Neji and Shikamaru exchanged glances, though with their masks on, no one could tell but them. If the girl could not go with the rest of the children, this would complicate matters. Technically, they were to guard the Weasleys until they were on the train. If one of them wasn't, they still needed to be watched over. Damn. They would have to heal her here, but there was only one accomplished medic amongst them.

"_Taicho." _Neji said firmly. Instantly another ninja blurred into focus. The witches and wizards turned to look at the ninja, noticing them standing there for the first time, their focus on their sister the entire time. The younger ones took the opportunity to stare openly at the other guards that were there to keep watch on them. Naruto ignored them. Looking at the girl and listening to the report from his subordinate, he moved forward. Pulling his armored glove off, he focused the healing chakra to pool into his hand.

Mrs. Weasley clutched her daughter closer to her as the fox masked man approached her with his hand glowing green. What was he doing?

"I'm a medic, a doctor. I can heal her." The soft voice had a strange reassuring quality to her; she nodded her head and released her grip on her daughter.

Harry watched as Fox put his glowing hand on his best friend's sister's head. It unnerved him. The color of his hand was the same color that had haunted him since the day he was born. It was the same color as the Avada Kedavra curse. The curse that had made him an orphan and a legend in one night. And still he forced himself to not call out a warning, to stop the boy approaching her. Boy. Sirius had told him how old each of them were, and how young they started training to be ninja, to kill. It had taken all of his self-control to not tell Ron and Hermione. He told them everything, well nearly everything, but if he knew Hermione, he knew she would create another version of S.P.E.W, but this time for children being trained to be assassins. He kept that information to himself… for now

"Slight concussion, abrasion to the forehead," Naruto muttered under his breath. It was an easy fix. Pushing his chakra forward, he mended the brushing and sealed the skin closed. The assembled wizards watched as the injury disappeared and Ginny opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a bone white mask painted with blood red lines in front of her. She gave a little squeak, and tried to push herself away, only to find her mother, holding her firm behind her. A confused frown appeared on her brow.

"Mum? What happened?" Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and hugged her close. All the time thanking Fox over and over again. Naruto nodded at the thanks, and then turned to his team. He waved a hand, they disappeared.

"You will be late for the train." Naruto said, adopting his guardian position again.

"Oh, my! You're right! Ginny you go wait in the hall; I'll get your luggage. Boys, go get dressed and bring down your trunks, Hermione dear, you too and," her voice suddenly became menacing, "Fred and George. I'll be talking to you two later." An audible gulp was heard by all from the twins.

As the students mounted the stairs a slight breeze moved past them that made them turn around. Standing at the bottom of the stairs was Fox and three other ninja. Two were the ones that had saved Ginny, all were dressed the same. And standing in a neat pile was all of their trunks and bags. Sitting on top of his trunk, Harry saw his owl, sitting quietly in her cage.

"You will be late for the train." Fox said again. That was some summoning spell! Harry didn't even hear an incantation, or see a wand or even see their luggage fly past them! Sirius was right. They may be young, but they were certainly skilled. Maybe he could get one of them to tutor him so he had a better chance of defeating Voldemort?

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said, rendered speechless for a moment. Gathering her wits, she continued herding the children. "Thank you, Fox. That will help greatly. Boys! I told you to get dressed! Hurry now, we'll leave in ten minutes. Girls there's some toast in the kitchen for you." Employing her years of experience in handling a busy household, the children were dressed, fed and ready to leave.

The ninja stood to the side as the Weasleys crowded the hall. Alastor Moody approached them.

"We'll leave in a group. Tonks and I will be escorting the kids. You guys follow and keep a lookout. When we get to Kings Cross, its platform nine and three quarters. Then you start your assignment guarding the train. You are to make no contact with the students. They may see you, but you are not to converse with them at all. Once you reach Hogwarts, talk to a man called Hagrid. You can't miss him. He'll give you directions to the school and to where Dumbledore will meet you with further instructions. Understood?"

"Understood," All the ninja said at once.

"Good. We leave now." Instantly the four foreigners nodded and disappeared. "Let's go Molly! All of you MOVE!" Moody shouted down the hall.

Mrs. Weasley wrenched the front door open and everyone spilled out into the chilly September morning. Weak sunlight filtered through the dense overcast sky, warming them only slightly. Moody slammed the door shut to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. The door to the building disappeared, squashed between numbers eleven and thirteen.

"Where's Tonks?" Harry asked, looking around as he stepped onto the street along with Ron and Hermione.

"She's waiting for us at the end of the street." Mrs. Weasley said, leading the way. Safely hidden in the shadows, Naruto watched them greet an old woman with curled grey hair and a strange purple hat.

"_That is Nymphadora Tonks," _Neji's crackly voice came over their headsets. "_I do not know what kind of genjutsu she used, but it has physically changed everything about her except her chakra pathways."_

"_Confirmed. Keep an eye on the targets Dove. Dog, Deer and I__ will start a rotation as we move. I'll take point, Dog east, Deer west. Every five minutes we'll switch counter clockwise, keeping a watch on perimeter. Dove, you focus on targets and examine anyone who comes within a meter distance. Alastor Moody has explained he will be keeping them away from the crowd so there will be less people coming within that distance, so that should make it easier. Confirm._

"_Confirmed." _Came the chorused reply. Naruto dashed ahead of the group, trusting his team to keep an eye on them, and for the wizards to lead them in the right direction. They did not know where this train station was.

It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross. The ninja's held back their awe at such a large place that almost rivaled the Hokage's Tower, and entered with the wizards. Henging into average citizens of this world, they followed the magical group at a safe distance. They observed them as they leaned casually between the platforms marked nine and ten. Naruto, unable to find the platform nine and three quarters, instructed Neji to look with his Byakugan.

Watching the witches and wizards fall through the seemingly solid wall confirmed his suspicions before Neji had a chance to speak.

"_There is a strong genjutsu barrier over the wall. It only allo__ws those with chakra, or magic, to enter."_

"_That'll be where the hidden train is. These wizards have cleaver ways to hide themselves." _Kakashi commented.

"_And once again they didn't tell us about__ it,__" _Growled out Naruto. He was sick of the tests. He would bet his last ryo that Alastor Moody purposely neglected to tell them the platform was hidden. _"__From now on treat all information as either faulty or completely wrong. Only rely on facts we know as true.__"_

"_Understood, Captain."_

"_Good, now let's see what this train is and then we'll plan how to go about protecting it."_

"_Right!"_

Using their speed, the Leaf nin ran through the barrier, no one noticing them slip through the crowd. Instinct so deeply ingrained into their being didn't stop them from not bracing for impact as they struck the wall. Mildly surprised, though expecting it, they kept running. Coming through to the other side they were greeted by the sight of a scarlet steam engine train, waiting next to a platform full of people. The platform number marked it as platform nine and three quarters. They had made it. An elegant sign overhead named the train the Hogwarts Express. So the destination of it was clear.

Smoke drifted over the heads of the bustling crowd. Cats of every color and species meowed to each other, Owls hooted to each other from their cages and the distinctive croak of toads could be heard. Students in casual clothing and strange black robes all pushed towards the train, each trying to find a place for their luggage and a place to sit. Unnoticed in all of the hubbub, the ninja slipped off to the shadows_._

"_There is __just above five hundred students here, judging on age. The others are most likely relatives dropping them off." _Shikamaru estimated, gazing over the crowd.

"_The train says express. That means it doesn't stop at any other places until its destination," _Kakashi added, being the one who had to research the commonly used terms this world employed.

"_So once it starts moving, no one will be entering or exiting the machine?" _Neji questioned.

"_That makes our job a whole lot easier. These trains go fast don't they?"_ At Kakashi's nod, Naruto continued. "_That'll lower the chance of interception, though not out ruling it completely. Ok here's the plan. Dove, you'll be point. Stay at the front of the train and keep your Byakugan activated. If the train can't go over water, it must be on the country somewhere so the trip will take a few hours at most. I do not trust the letter Dumbledore wrote Baa-chan about timing and destination with everything that has happened since. Dog and Deer, you'll be patrolling the corridor, look for anybody that shows signs of killer intent. Remember, no talking to the students. It might be best if there was no sight of us either. I will trail the Potter Boy. He won't be with Granger or Weasley due to them having to do their own patrol of the train so he'll most likely be by himself. I will be visible, to ward off anybody who thinks he is alone. The chances of someone attacking in a public place are unlikely, but I'd rather be safe than sorry." _He gazed around his team, silently looking for questions or ideas. "_Understood?"_

"_**Yes, sir!"**_

"_Move out!" _


	4. Chapter 4

English Talking

_Japanese Talking/Jutsu/Spells_

Chapter four

A whistle sounded.

The sleek, red train began to move. Students hung out their windows, giving last goodbyes to family members and friends. Young children, probably siblings of the students leaving, ran alongside the train, until it had gathered too much speed and they fell back. Neji sat on top of the train, in front of the chimney so the smoke didn't get in his face. As the train built up speed, his hair billowed out from behind his mask and whipped around in a frenzy, nothing like the intricate and delicate patterns the thick smoke was making in the air. Using his impressive control over his tenketsu points, he glued himself to the top of the train with chakra… and his hair to his back. He would not arrive at this potentially hostile place with his hair looking ridiculous. They had a reputation to uphold.

And his team would never let him live it down.

Adjusting his communicator more firmly on his neck so he would be able to communicate any dangers and make a regular report, Neji got comfortable on top of the magical train.

Harry had never been so out of depth in his life. He had never travelled on the Hogwarts Express without Ron, and now, now he was in a compartment with the oddest combination of people. Ginny sat in a corner, talking cheerfully with Neville Longbottom, a fellow fifth-year boy who was also in Gryffindor. In the opposite corner sat a girl who Ginny identified as Luna Lovegood, a quirky, absentminded fourth-year girl from Ravenclaw, who could not stop staring at the other person in the small carriage. Fox, He had informed him that he would be personally escorting him while the other ninja patrolled the train.

He didn't know how to feel about this. At first he was outraged. Everyone would be talking about him, whispering about him because he had a body guard. But as he walked the halls of the train he realised, people were doing that anyway. The _Daily Prophet _had been slandering him all holidays, calling him an attention-seeking liar. He was used to people staring at him, but now there was something else in those stares; Accusation, disbelief, condemnation. He didn't like it, he was almost relieved to have Fox there, acting like a shield from the stares. Everyone stared at the strange man in a mask rather than him. And when people didn't get distracted by the ninja and continued to stare at him, Fox stepped in between the glares and Harry, so naturally and casually it was like it wasn't intentional. Harry didn't even notice he was doing it until half way down the train when he noticed how much the blonde haired ninja was moving. He never seen him move so much, usually whenever he saw his guard he was standing still, or a blur.

Now his guard was sitting quietly in the corner closet to the door next to Harry. In his lap was Trevor the frog. He had escaped Neville's hands once again, but for some reason sat contentedly in his protector's knee. Fox was stroking the back of the toad absent mindedly. Harry thought he looked the perfect picture of bored or at ease. How wrong he was.

Every muscle in Naruto's body was coiled like a spring; ready to launch into action should the slightest motion make any attempt at his charge's life. The boy who had the toad, Neville Longbottom, seemed like a gift from the Sage of Six Paths himself. Frogs were natural sages, and what many people didn't know was that all toads are frogs even though not all frogs are toads. Having a master of sage chakra sit in his lap, even if the creature wasn't aware of it as he was, he felt calmer and stronger than he had since he had arrived in this nature voided city. He absorbed the nature chakra the amphibian naturally produced. He would be able to last the entire train ride, ready to spring into combat in a split second. Breathing in deeply, he focused his senses on the immediate surroundings, trusting his team to cover the hallway and exterior of the train.

Longbottom was talking excitedly about some plant he had received. So great was his enthusiasm it drew both Potter and Lovegood into the conversation. Naruto looked at the plant. He had never seen anything like it. It looked like one of Gaara's desert plants, except grey, and was covered in what seemed to be boils rather than spikes. It pulsated slightly, giving the leaf nin an impression of some of the more grotesque jutsu his enemies knew, like transplanting diseased organs into a healthy body in seconds. A skill Orochimaru had taught his subordinates. Though the castors had died, the soldiers they infected suffered greatly over the next few days before he or Baa-chan could get to them, most didn't make, the rest wish they didn't.

Naruto shook of darker memories just in time to see the Neville boy jab at the plant with a feathered pen. His sage chakra allowed him to move quicker than he normally would. Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant like an over ripe pimple. Thick, stinking, dark green streams of it hit everywhere; the ceiling, the windows and all of its occupants. The Weasley girl had protected her face in time with her arms and only had some on her head. The absent minded one had put down her magazine and received a face full and the Longbottom child was drenched. He tried shaking his head to get most of it out his eyes.

"S – sorry!" he gasped. He looked around and just noticed Harry missing. A soft thump made them all look towards the door. The scarily masked man had just released his grip on Harry, who was looking a little pale, but completely Stinksap free. At that moment the door of their compartment slid open.

Still ready for an attack, Naruto discreetly palmed a kunai knife in his hand. Waiting for whoever was on the other side of the door to make a move towards his charge. Amongst the chatter a rattling that was increased when their door opened, he heard the distinct voice of his ex-sensei.

"_Non-threat," _

Naruto, being the only one in that room who could understand Japanese, relaxed his stance. A girl with long, shiny black hair was standing in the doorway. Her gaze was fixed on Potter.

"Um … hello, Harry," she said nervously, a blush creeping up her cheeks. When Harry heard her voice he spun around, not having noticed the door swing open, or his guard easily handling a deadly weapon.

"Oh … hi," Harry said, his voice matching his face, at a loss on what to do. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, before the girl muttered a quick goodbye and left, still quite pink in the face. Harry groaned and turned around to face his fellow students, who were suddenly incredibly busy trying to get the rancid smelling liquid off them.

"It's ok," said Ginny graciously, "There'll be other times. As for now," she pulled out her wand, not noticing the guard tense all over again. You wouldn't expect the younger sister of the boy's best friend to be an assassin, but when you come from Naruto's world, Naruto's life, betrayal was as common as clouds.

"_Scourgify!" _the girl cried. The Stinksap vanished. Naruto raised his eyebrows, though no one saw it behind his mask. They may not be strong but wizards had definitely got some useful little tricks.

"Sorry," Neville said again to the girls. Seeing his seat free and clear of goo, Harry sat down, his guard following suite. He sighed and wondered when Ron and Hermione would be back to save him.

An hour went by, filled with small talk and quiet silence before the compartment door slid open again. Ron and Hermione, accompanied by Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon, slumped down on the empty seats next to Luna.

"Can't believe that silly cow made prefect," Hermione grumbled. Harry raised a brow. It was very rare to hear Hermione swear.

"There are two prefects from each house," Ron explained tiredly. "Guess who Slytherin's is?"

"Malfoy," Harry said instantly, of course he would be.

"And Pansy Parkinson," Hermione hissed. "She's thicker than a concussed troll." Harry and Ron exchanged glance before both snickering. It was then Ron noticed the silent guard.

"Oh, hello Fox," he said nervously. He didn't like the idea that his parents thought he was stupid enough to warrant a watcher, but they had saved his sister, so they couldn't be all bad, could they? Fox nodded a greeting, before going back to petting Trevor who sat happily in his lap. Hermione stared at this. The toad that hated humans holding it or staying in one place too long was sitting complacently in the lap of a stranger? It even looked… happy. Did these people have some sort of affinity for animals?

Harry glanced sideways at the ninja. It felt weird calling him a ninja. To him, ninja were people who wore black jump suits and ski masks and threw flimsy stars around whilst jumping all over the place. He hadn't told his friends a thing about what Sirius had revealed to him. He agreed they were scary, and had some sort of special magic (A summoning spell without a wand?), but ninja? He didn't want them to laugh at him.

The compartment door slid open for the third time. For the first time since meeting the wizards, did the ninja see the three friends turn with the same look of strong dislike on their faces to the people standing in the doorway. The one in the middle looked slightly familiar. The boy had a pale, pointed face and his equally pale blonde hair was slicked back from his face, making the smirking face more pronounced. Flanking his sides were two large boys that dwarfed the middle one. They had sneers on their faces but their eyes weren't as sharp or as intelligent as the one in the middle. Naruto guessed they were hired thugs or friends the blonde boy had made for protection.

"What do you want?" Harry asked aggressively, just as the pale boy opened his mouth.

"Oh, angry are we Potter? Maybe a detention or two will teach you manners?" the boy drawled in a bored sort of way. Now Naruto knew who he was. This was the son of the snake like man who was at the Ministry. They had the same slimy air around him. He watched as the two exchanged insults, Harry being the victor. He tensed his muscles. Just because you win an argument doesn't mean you won. Trevor croaked loudly when he stopped stroking him. Draco Malfoy, identified during the banter, turned his attention to the shinobi. His sneer became more pronounced.

"Added another member to your freak show?" he said maliciously. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. Hermione smiled.

"I wouldn't tease him if I were you. He's Harry's bodyguard. He'd beat all three of you before you even drew your wands." She said smugly. Malfoy frowned. Only students were allowed on the train, but more importantly, he needed to show how much better he was than these losers.

"Crabbe, Goyle. Show our friends here how wrong they are." Malfoy ordered. The two boys grinned, something they knew how to do, and do well. Cracking their knuckles they stepped forward. The four witches and wizards who had seen the guard's power grinned as well. Neville was scared and Luna just observed dreamily.

Naruto frowned behind his mask. The children were getting him to fight their battles for them. They did not understand the situation or how his world handled threats. He would have to show them. Blurring from sight there were gasps of pain and three bodies fell to the floor, all bleeding from their temples. An ominous silence descended.

"_Dog!" _Naruto said sharply. Kakashi appeared by his side. "_Get the unconscious ones back to their carriage, make sure no one knows they've been knocked out. They'll wake up in a few minutes, I just put them to sleep"_

"_Why are they bleeding?"_ Naruto could kill without leaving a chakra signature, let alone a physical wound.

"_To make a point." _He growled out. _"When you leave place silencing seals around this compartment."_

"_Hai, captain."_

Kakashi nodded. Displaying inhumane strength, he picked up the three students and disappeared, door sliding closed behind him. Striking quicker than a viper, Naruto struck out at Neville and Luna. The two slumped unconscious in their sleep. The four remaining magical students felt the cold touch of fear.

"W – where is he taking Malfoy?" Harry asked numbly.

"He is disposing of the bodies." Naruto said harshly. "Do you know what you have done?"

"What we have done?" Hermione shrieked. "You just killed three people!"

"Because of your stupidity!" Naruto growled. "We are here to protect you from danger, not to fight your battles for you! You think it was clever, baiting him to attack me? Goading him to strike? I am not your attack dog, I am your guard. Anyone who provokes me or shows aggressive signs towards you will be treated as a threat and eliminated."

"You thought Malfoy would've killed Harry?" Ron asked incredulously. "I mean, yeah he's a git and needs a good punch in the face, but he wouldn't kill him…" he trailed of as the bone white mask faced him.

"Anyone will kill anybody if they believe the reason is right enough," his voice was soft, with well concealed pain. "When someone attacks me, I will retaliate with deadly force. Do you understand now? This is not a game. You taunt and provoke people into attacking me or you, I will do my job. It is what we were hired to do. _Do you understand?"_ he demanded.

The three wizards nodded numbly, faces white with shock. These people were insane! Dumbledore hired these murderers to protect them? What was he thinking? Harry was stunned by how different these ninjas were to what he thought. He would have to tell Ron and Hermione, but when they were alone. Who knew what these killers would do if they overheard them.

"I will patrol for the rest of the trip. Do not leave this compartment until we arrive." His voice was steel and it kept them nailed to their seats. Turning swiftly, the shinobi opened the door and slid it shut. Unnoticed by the wizards, four glowing seals detached themselves from the corners of the room and drifted to the floor. A stunned silence filled the room, only broken when Luna and Neville woke with soft groans.

…

Rain spattered the windows in infrequent bursts, as if it couldn't get the energy to really pour. The sun broke through the cloud coverage a few times, its weak light illuminating the country side for mere moments before being swallowed up. The sun made a final appearance and darkness fell, the lamps inside the train lit up.

Harry sat with his forehead pressed against the glass, straining to get a glimpse of the distant Hogwarts.

"We'd better change," Hermione said. The first words they had uttered since the episode earlier. Each of them lost in their own thoughts and feelings of guilt, fear and accusation. As they struggled into their robes, the train began to slow down, and the usual racket as everyone scrambled to get their luggage. Harry looked longingly after Ron and Hermione as they disappeared into the crowd. Being Prefects meant they had to supervise the students leaving the train.

Leaving the train, he felt the sting of the cool night air on his face, smelt the pine trees that lined the path to the lake. A deep feeling of satisfaction filled him. He was home. All that was missing was the familiar call of "firs'-years over 'ere … firs'-yeas …"

But instead was a different voice. A brisk, almost strict voice was calling for the first years to assemble. A swinging lantern shone its light and revealed Professor Grubby-Plank, temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Beyond her he could see the huge outline of Hagrid, standing quietly to one side, away from the surge of students juggling their luggage and pets. Harry was confused. Seeing Hagrid was one of the things he'd been looking forward to most, but seeing him stand quietly was so strange to him. As the crowd thinned, he saw the reason why. The ninja were standing around him. He was talking to them quietly. Some sort of agreement must have been made because the ninja nodded, and Hagrid left.

Filing that away to discuss with Hagrid later, he turned and made his way to the hundred or so horseless carriages that would take all the students, except the first years who travelled by boat, across the grounds and to the castle. He was acutely aware of the ninja trailing the swarm of students, following them. Harry kept a lookout for Ron and Hermione but had to stop and stare.

The coaches were no longer horseless. Some creature, half-horse half-dragon, stood between the carriage shafts. They had no muscle mass at all. Their black coats clung tightly to their skeletons, outlining every bone in their bodies. Their heads reminded Harry of the dragons he fought last year, and their eyes were pure white, no pupil visible. They were also dragonish in the sense they had giant black wings sprouting from their withers. The wings seemed like they'd suit bats, but they were folded and rested comfortably against the backs of the creatures. They stood so still they could be mistaken for statues, but in the darkness and flickering lights of swinging lanterns, they just looked eerie and sinister. Then as one they all raised their heads and stared right at him.

Or past him he should say. The white, staring eyes gazed directly at the ninja, who in turn had their masks trained on the beasts. The clamouring of the students died slightly as those closest to the ninja realised there was more than the one they saw on the train, and that they were making their way towards the closest carriage. Ron and Hermione appeared behind him, frustrated looks melting off their faces as they stared in curiosity at the ninja.

Fox was the one that approached the horse thing. Its empty white eyes stared back at him. Slowly he raised a hand and placed it on its muzzle. The air around them shimmered. All the students stopped and stared at the display. The horse's blank eyes were suddenly full. Beautiful black eyes stared at Fox. The thing nipped at the ninja's hand, revealing viciously sharp fangs that should not belong in the mouth of a horse.

"What is he doing to the cart?" the breathless voice of Hermione asked.

"The coach?" Harry asked in confusion. "He's petting the horse thing that's pulling it."

"What are you talking about?" Ron questioned.

"I'm talking about – that!" he said, gesturing towards the ninja stroking the nose of the thing and murmuring softly to it in a strange language.

"Harry, he's touching the air and making it shimmer," Ron frowned.

"Maybe they're using a detection charm to see what kind of magic pulls the coaches?" Hermione guessed.

Naruto stepped back from the beautiful creature. They had made enough of a scene. As his hand left the beast, the shimmering faded and the gorgeous, liquid black eyes of the horse once again returned to their blank white. He couldn't help himself, and his fellow shinobi couldn't either. These were creatures born from tragedy, and their presence was so strong in their senses it was almost overwhelming. The power they also sensed housed within their bodies, especially their tails was incredible. The wizards must have some form of power if they have a trained a herd of these magnificent beasts.

"_Taicho." _The cool voice of Neji broke through his admiration. Even the stoic ninja had an undercurrent of awe to his voice. He nodded. They were to meet Dumbledore before the children made it to the castle. No doubt this was yet another test for them, this time to see how quick they were. No need to show them their physical prowess. Forming a seal in their hands, the ninja shunshin'd to the castle doors.

Hundreds of students watched the strangers disappear in the blink of an eye. Immediately the students erupted into speculation, none higher pitched then Hermione, her busy hair flying everywhere in her incredulities.

"They aparated! They can't Aparate! They're on Hogwarts grounds! _Hogwarts: A History _specifically said that you cannot Aparate on school grounds!" Her rant was cut short when her sense of duty kicked in. Students were milling about, no one was getting in the coaches. Grabbing Ron by the arm, she dragged in him into the thick of it, yelling at students to get in the carriages.

Harry stood numb. He needed to talk to Dumbledore.

…

"You want us to reveal ourselves to the entire school?" Fox asked incredulously.

"Yes, I want you to show off your most powerful techniques too." Dumbledore ordered calmly.

"Do you even understand how a ninja works?! We deal with shadows, in secret, behind closed doors! The less people know about us the better! Any information you can keep from your enemy is a victory? How do you not get this?" These people were so stupid! Fox thought angrily. Wars were not won by people showing off flashy moves and revealing their trump cards at the start!

"I understand your concern, but that is not the only war I am fighting, as you've probably figured out already if you are indeed as good as they say." Smiled the headmaster.

"That is not what we were hired for. We are here to protect the boy and the students, eliminating anybody that we deem a threat. We are _not _your pet dogs to fight your battles for you. If you have a disagreement with someone, that is your issue. We are here to protect our Kage's honour."

"Which means you must honour the terms of the contract. If I said that certain people within the ministry mean to cause Harry harm, you would have to see them as a threat, but I would rather cow them into submission before they get to the stage of a threat," the old man said pleasantly. The ninja stared with wide eyes at the school teacher. The man had all the makings and beliefs of a dictator. Regardless of how pretty he was making it sound, he wanted to destroy all enemies before they had a chance to oppose him. They were instantly reminded of Danzo, a man who had tried to kill off their beloved Third Hokage and wrestle leadership away from, only to achieve his dream and then be killed by none other than a traitor. Ironic.

Dislike for Dumbledore grew until it was bordering on hatred. There were a lot of things they were willing to do to protect their Hokage's honour. The second Dumbledore asks them to do anything they weren't willing, well, he just better not for his own health. The ninja nodded, albeit grudgingly, and vanished. They would be obedient. For now.

…

The Entrance Hall was light brightly with blazing torches and echoing footsteps of students making their way to the Great Hall filled the room.

The starless black ceiling hung above the heads of the students as the four long house tables slowly filled up. Up in the rafters of the ceiling, behind whatever genjutsu that showed the night sky, the Leaf shinobi gazed down at their charges.

"_There is more than five hundred students here Deer,"_ the bored voice of Kakashi spoke. The deer masked ANBU scratched the back of his head.

"_There were roughly five hundred on the platform. Others could have been on the train already I guess."_

"_That doesn't make up the numbers here. There is almost a thousand. There must be another way to get here or students were here already."_

"_We have to protect a thousand students? What a drag."_

"_And teachers also, as well as patrolling the grounds, all of the grounds."_

"_You're talking about that forest and that lake?"_

"_There were sentient beings in those areas; some of them were very strong."_

Naruto's mind was already calculating a systematic way of investigating all areas of the school, as well as protecting the students.

"_Something is wrong with my eyes." _Instantly all attention shifted to Neji. He was staring at a wall, his Byakugan activated.

"_What's wrong?" _Naruto asked his voice forcibly calm.

"_It's not my eyes exactly, it's this place. It – It doesn't make sense. The space on the inside is larger than the outside. Just looking at the outer walls makes my head hurt from the overlapping images. Then some of the rooms keep disappearing, or the interior changes. Items are appearing out of nowhere only to vanish. Forms of chakra keep making items and then completely vanish. I can't keep track. Then there are these strange chakra signatures floating around. They have no form, no life force, but the chakra is still there. And – and the castle itself. It's alive."_

"_What do you mean alive?"_

"_Well there are lots of jutsus' that are ingrained in the building itself, there are seals everywhere, and there is chakra running through every brick. But the chakra has its own mind. It has its own network. There is a room that it all centres on, its heart maybe? The castle is sentient." _The pulsing veins on the side of his head disappeared and the dove masked ninja sagged. This was serious; it took a lot to make Neji show any signs of exhaustion. Naruto was instantly kneeling by his side, running a green hand over his eyes. He felt the throbbing headache and willed it away.

"_Very well, do not use your Byakugan inside the castle walls unless you feel it is absolutely necessary. For now, we shall perform for the crowd then rendezvous with Dumbledore and start our primary mission. Understood?"_

"_Hai, Taicho."_

As the ninja had conversed the Sorting Ceremony had begun. This had been described to them when they arrived at the castle. The youngest children who belong to no house will be divided into the house that suited them best. There were four houses, each with a different quality they take in. And Each year the 'magical hat' would sing a song, welcoming the new students.

But the song the hat sang was quite different. It spoke of trouble ahead as well as advising everyone that they needed to be united. Naruto noticed the frown on the woman in pink. He recognised her from the hearing. It was the woman that reminded him of Gamabunta. She was still wearing clothes of a shocking pink. Her pouchy eyes glared at the hat.

When the hat finished its song, mutterings broke out across the Hall. Only to be silenced by a glare from the severe looking woman. One by one the new student walked up to the chair the hat was seated on, and divided into their houses. Naruto thought of the hypocrisy. The hat preached unity but divided them. Once the students were seated, Dumbledore clapped his hands and food appeared upon the tables. The ninja stared. To summon that many objects at once, without seals or handsigns, showed a high level of skill.

"_That was the castle. It responds to the old man."_ Neji clarified. Naruto frowned, and even behind his mask Neji noticed. _"I felt it appropriate. I will stop when I reach my limit. Do not worry Taicho."_

Naruto nodded and they settled down to watch and wait while the students finished their feast. As the food disappeared and the volume level of the room started to increase, Dumbledore stood. Instant silence flooded the room. He commanded respect everywhere he went, observed the shinobi.

A short welcome started his speech off. Warnings from the care taker as well as the introduction of two new staff members. The toad woman made a speech of her own. Ninja were trained to read the hidden meanings in everything. The easily got the message of the Ministry interfering in Hogwarts. That answered some questions they had. They had been informed the school was out of government control, obviously the government didn't like that anymore. Naruto watched Dumbledore closely. Everyone else may be fooled by his smart posture and alert face, looking like he desired nothing else but to listen to the toad woman, Umbridge she introduced herself as, talk. But he saw the way his eyes had a fire of anger and then a twinkle of mischief with an air of smugness. He also had the feeling they were going to be used as a part of this power play.

The woman rambled on, losing the attention of most of the students. When she finished she found no one was paying attention to realise she had stopped. Dumbledore started the clapping, rousing the bored, distracted students into following his lead.

"Thank you for that illuminating speech Professor Umbridge," he said whilst bowing to her. "Now as I was saying, due to recent events I have enlisted some extra protection for the school." Umbridge looked up sharply. Naruto almost grinned, obviously she didn't know about them. "This elite group will be patrolling the grounds as well as the corridors. They will also assist in the enforcement of the school rules along with Mr Filch. Now I understand that some of you may be dubious or even scared of these people, but I urge you to not be afraid, they are here to protect you."

Whispers broke out over Dumbledore's last sentence. Hired protection that they would be afraid of?

"Allow me to introduce Fox, Deer, Dog and Dove."

"_Showtime" _Naruto said and they each disappeared.

Student's heads twisted and turned, each trying to get a glimpse of the guards. Harry, Ron and Hermione were also interested on how the guards were going to appear. A gust appeared, swirling around in a circle on the dais next to Dumbledore. Leaves, picked up by the gust, swirled around thickly and soon, a mini tornado was spinning gracefully. No one questioned where the leaves had come from; the Great Hall was always impeccable when it came to cleanliness and mysterious when it came to magic. Everyone was captivated. In the centre of the windy column, four shadowy figures could be seen. Suddenly a glowing blue nimbus appeared and the wind and leaves were exploded outwards, revealing the four guards.

They stood straight, hands clasped behind their backs; feet spread shoulder width apart, power exuding from them in waves. The flickering candles cast shadows upon their porcelain masks, making them appear even more sinister. A hushed silence filled with awe descended on the Hall.

The teachers all looked scared.

Umbridge looked like she was going to explode with rage and cower in fear.

Dumbledore smiled a hint of satisfaction in the quirk of his lips. "Our estimable guests come here from a place not very well known and give us their protection. I hope you all make the ninja of the Elemental Nations welcome."

Chaos erupted. Protests of disbelief were thrown around, accusations of Dumbledore's mentality cruelly yelled out. Shock and fear causing slight hysteria with many of the students.

Harry stared at the mayhem wide eyed. The wizarding world knew about ninjas? And what they knew was obviously big from the reactions around him. Ron had paled so much his freckles shone a bright red. Hermione was staring at the guards, mouth open and gaping like a goldfish.

Naruto surveyed the room disapprovingly. This was why their origin was best left secret. Now they had to deal with public panic as well as guard the population against threats. He needed a way to calm the situation down, whilst also showing they were who the headmaster claims they were. Which could cause the students to fear them even more.

"_Deer, Stop them." _He commanded quietly. The deer masked shinobi nodded and crouched down. Running through the familiar hand seals with ease and muttered quietly,

"_Kageshibari!" _Shadows exploded from his feet. The teachers who were still seated behind them, paused in their arguing and watched, fascinated and fearful.

The shadows split into a thousand lines and attached themselves to the feet of every student in the hall. Instantly the angry yells of confusion turned into cries of shock and fear, before the shadows stretched themselves up from the floor and blocked their mouths.

Harry was frozen in his seat, and couldn't move even if he wanted too. The shadow holding him had a peculiar feeling about it. He couldn't feel it on his skin, but he could feel the power stopping him from moving. It frightened him. Against their will, every head in the Great Hall turned to look at the ninja.

The fox masked man stepped forward, and the other two crouched, joining the one who was using the spell to hold them. The three on the floor each held their right hand, clenched in a fist across their chests. They were saluting the man who was still standing.

"My name is Fox and I am the leader of this squad." The standing ninja stated. His clear, strong voice carried easily in the silent Hall. "We have been hired to guard these grounds and all who dwell within them against any threat. We will assist the care taker in upholding the rules of this establishment. We will not interfere with your daily activities and we ask you leave us to do our job. Any source seen as a threat to the wellbeing, of any student will be immediately eliminated without hesitation." He paused and gazed around at the faces of the students, seeming to pin each and every one to their seats.

"We are ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village of the Land of Fire. I assure you that most of your facts about us are grossly misinformed but! Do not test us. We are not here to answer your questions or play nice. We are here to guard you and keep these grounds safe."

Naruto stepped back in line with his team as they stood back up. Dumbledore cleared his throat. The shadows that were binding the students released themselves and disappeared without a trace. Not that it made a difference, they were still rooted to their places anyway.

"Thank you Fox!" Dumbledore said, his easy smile still on his face. "Now that introductions are over it is time for bed! Rest those minds so that they are ready for all the learning you shall be doing over the next semester!"

The ninja vanished and like that, the spell was broken. Chatter broke out excitedly as students talked about what had recently transpired. Harry sat back in his chair and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was seriously going to have to research what ninja really were. Research equivilated to one thing in his mind: Ask Hermione.


	5. Chapter 5

In answer to the main question I keep getting. This story is written under the impression you have read up to book 5 of the Harry Potter series. You don't even need to read book five as I start from the beginning of that book, so you could finish at book four and then read my story coz it changes with the added ninjas (derrr). So if you haven't read Harry Potter, FOR JASHINS SAKE DO IT NOW!

From the Narutoverse, if you haven't noticed, I've changed the storyline. But if you seriously haven't noticed then child, get yourself checked coz there is something wrong with you. So if you've read Harry Potter and haven't seen/read Naruto all you pretty much need to know is that Naruto is a ninja (NO SHIT! Ah hem) and a jinchuuriki (human sacrifice), he holds the nine tailed beast within him. (There are nine of them, keep up now) He had a bad childhood because of it. Was on a team of three, with Kakashi as their sensei. Others of his team were Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Sasuke, being the emo bastard he is, left in pursuit of his brother, Itachi, who murdered his entire clan/family (none of the other kids liked him) Naruto had become best friends with Sasuke and so his leaving kinda screwed him up. (cry) There is now a war on between all the major ninja nations (due to another insane 'want to rule the world' guy) blah blah blah, its ok, I'll get to that in the story. So everyone keep your pants on and knickers untwisted, you'll figure stuff out later when I decide you can. Coz you know, being the author and all I have total control over what I write and another perk is I know what's going to happen so mwahahahaha, suffer my unannounced plot turns and twists, suffer!

All hail Jashin.

….

Harry didn't get to catch up with Hermione until the next day. Hermione and Ron, being the new prefects had to show the new first years where the Gryffindor common room was and other prefecty stuff. He would have joined them, if the first years didn't look so terrified of him. The Daily Prophet had been busy labelling him as insane since he appeared clutching Cedric Diggory's body during the Triwizard Tournament two months ago. As soon as he left the Hall, the whispers of the students changed topic to him. He had gone to bed early that night, unable to deal with his fellow Gryffindors and their gossip.

The morning didn't get much better for Harry. Seamus Finnigan, a fellow fifth grader and one of his friends since first-year, had refused to share a dormitory with him. The situation escalated quickly before Ron stopped it, reminding them all he was a prefect and that things were staying the way they were. Harry wondered how much more he would have to take. People avoided walking near him and even paused in what they were saying and waiting for him to pass before resuming their conversation. Angry and depressed at the same time, Harry joined his two closest friends for breakfast.

…

Naruto watched the Potter child emotionlessly, hidden from view by the ceiling that was a miserable cloudy grey today. The wizard's situation mirrored his childhood a little too closely. But the boy had one thing he didn't have when he was younger. Friends. It irritated him to see fifth grader snap at his friends; didn't he know how lucky he was to have someone?

So he shut down his emotions. They were useless anyway. Did nothing but betray you.

A dark skinned girl with braided hair interrupted the three Gryffindor's conversation and started talking excitedly about something called "Kwiditch". Naruto made a note to speak to Kakashi about it. A whoosh nearly took him by surprise. Nearly. He returned his kunai to its rightful place calmly. And observed the source of the noise.

Owls, hundreds upon hundreds of owls came through the upper windows and swooped over the students assembling for breakfast. Naruto eyed the packages suspiciously. They had, of course, already scanned every owl and the items they were carrying, but it never hurt to be cautious. A tawny landed in front of the Granger girl, one of the "newspaper" owls. A concept completely alien to the military shinobi.

The Potter boy adopted a scathing look as he observed the girl start reading. To which the young witch replied "It's best to know what the enemy's saying." Naruto was surprised. The girl was intelligent, slightly. Too bad the boy didn't appreciate her reconnaissance and decided to then attack his breakfast with a small amount of blood lust.

The Weasley twins had approached their main target now, just after the stern looking professor handed out sheets of paper. Most likely their schedule. He would have to commandeer one of those, their employers not having offered them one.

The conversation wasn't interesting from Naruto's point of view. They didn't talk about their enemy or the government influence or even Dumbledore. Something about exams, owls, newts and how people broke down because of them. These people broke down over a lizard? They needed better priorities. He supposed he had better keep an eye on the twins and their 'experiments'. They were meant to be helping the caretaker uphold rules, and creating tablets that made you sick to get out of class was most likely against the rules. The inner prankster that dwelled within Naruto congratulated their ingenuity; the inner ninja was irritated at the extra work.

A small whoosh next to him signified the arrival of one of his subordinates. Identifying the chakra signature revealed it was Kakashi.

"_Report."_

"_Hai. Have mapped out the castle. We will begin on the grounds as soon as the students begin their classes."_

"_Anything interesting with the castle?"_

"_Where do I start? A total of forty-eight rooms are protected by portraits that require passwords. We were able to infiltrate twelve of them as they are used by students, teachers and those house-elf creatures. The other thirty-six were determined to be rooms used for safe keeping. The stairwells move according to a pattern Deer is figuring out now. Each floor has a minimum of nine secret passages, including the lower levels. The dungeon goes down roughly a kilometre and spreads out about five. Many rooms and corridors are no longer in use." _ The secret passages were going to be useful, it would take some effort though to memorize the entire map of the school, but it's what they were good at. Kakashi kept up with his report.

_One corridor in particular snagged Dove's interest. It's on the third floor. There are various traps and riddles that run through it. Oh and a very large three-headed dog."_

Naruto's head snapped round to stare at the dog mask beside him. A three-headed dog? He had met one of them in his lifetime, and it was the summon creature of Pein, an Akatsuki member. Not just any Akatsuki member, THE Akatsuki member. The one with the Rinnegan.

"_It has a scar between its shoulder blades, from what looks to be a giant tanto blade." _Kakashi continued. Naruto's mind hit hyper-drive. One of Akatsuki's summons is here? Does that mean magical creatures are somehow linked with the shinobi world?

More importantly, he could use this to close in on Akatsuki. He would have to work out the details, but a plan was forming in his mind. He needed to talk to Gamabunta. This mission had just paid for itself. His team would keep quiet about this discovery, until they knew how they could use it to their advantage.

Kakashi couldn't see his captains face, but he could imagine the intense thinking look on it right now. He remembered the first time he saw that look. It was when he was trying to describe 'cattra' to him. He looked at his pupil sadly. Oh how much could change in a mere four years.

"_Anything else of importance?" _Naruto asked his former sensei.

"_The third floor would be the ideal location to set up base as students tend to avoid it completely. The four separate 'houses' have some sort of competition between them. Winner is the house that has the most points at the end of the year. Good behaviour gets points, bad behaviour subtracts. They all seem to take this competition very seriously." _Naruto snorted at the absurdity of it all. That's what they deemed important? A meaningless competition?

"_First and second floor's hold mostly classrooms. Teacher's staff room is located on the first floor. Third floor holds what I assume is the castle's hospital as well as more classrooms, a trophy room and a room full of armour. Fourth floor holds their library as well as a few secret rooms. Fifth has a bunch of fancy bathrooms and many unused rooms, and the house of 'Hufflepuff' is situated there. Sixth floor hold's teacher's offices as well as their sleeping quarters. Seventh has the 'Gryffindor' house that extends into one of the towers as well as a curious room that changes its interior to match what the person needs. It's the highest floor of the castle and leads to the many to many of the towers, one of which belongs to 'Ravenclaw' as well as the headmaster. The dungeons hold classrooms as well the 'Slytherin' house. The west wing of the castle –"_

"_Enough!" _Naruto interrupted. The dog mask was staring at him but he could swear his former sensei was grinning at him.

"_I get it, geez. The place is big. Mark down the most commonly used places and paths and the important ones and ones of interest on a map. We'll work from there."_

"_Well that's where we have a problem."_

"_Problem?"_

"_We've been trying to draw up a map, but whenever we make more than two lines connect, the ink slides right of the page, or just turns into something completely different. In a book called _Hogwarts: A History, _its tells that the castle is 'unplottable' meaning unless you have some connection to the school, like being a student or a teacher or have made an agreement with the headmaster, you cannot record anything about this place onto a map."_

"_Well that makes things difficult."_ Naruto said bluntly.

"_Understatement._ Ah hem" The Sharingan user cleared his throat. "_There are a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there are doors that wouldn't open unless you ask politely, or tickle them in exactly the right place, and doors that aren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. Even Albus Dumbledore, current headmaster has been known to say, "Even I would never dream of knowing all of Hogwarts's secrets."_

Naruto stared. _"Quoted that did you?"_

"_Yes taicho."_

"_So the most powerful, complex and intelligent thing we have met since entering this world is a castle."_

"_Most probably."_

"_We're being outsmarted by a powered up building?"_

"_It appears so."_

"_I think my pride just died."_

"_So did ours, taicho. So did ours."_

"_Wait, even its own inhabitants have never found or mapped out all its secrets?"_

"_Not that is known by any of the documents in our Kage's knowledge or the library they have here or the teacher's own personal collections."_

"_Awesome, research a way to go around this 'unplottable' thing and make a map. Use the chakra paper made for the reconnaissance teams and chuunin exams. Place seals on every corner and then every five paces a long a wall so that when an object moves we are alerted and the map can alter itself. I'll probably have to create the seals myself, edit the beacon seal maybe? Either way, then we'll know more about this place than they will and my pride will survive."_

Kakashi grinned. He had a smart student. "_Right away taicho." _

Naruto turned back to the Great Hall as Kakashi shunshin'd to the other members of his team. He caught the trio of fifth graders that were his priority getting up to leave for class. He groaned internally. Maybe he should have swapped with Kakashi and made the map and let him sit through the boring lessons. Listening to lectures was one thing he was well experienced in, but never listened to. Tsunade and Iruka would willing and eagerly back that statement up. Cursing himself for being responsible, the captain of the ANBU squad followed their high priority targets whilst the rest of his team dealt with the lesser important tasks.

…

Kakashi appeared next to Shikamaru, who was currently staring down at the mass of staircases from the rafters. There was never a moment in which all were perfectly still, there was constant motion. The Nara heir's hard flew down a scroll, filling it with writing that Kakashi only barely understood. He must have made a shorthand code to help him with his analysis.

"_How's it going?" _the silver haired man asked his younger team mate. There deer masked teenager sighed.

"_Troublesome. There are twenty-three staircases in this section which is fewer than the others, but I still can't find the pattern. I'm close, I think it might have something to do with the students on the bottom level, and either the positioning of the sun or the time of the day, but I need to double-check my theory before I can actually apply the system I assume the castle is enforcing to the structure."_

"… _so good then?"_

"_Yeah, more or less. How'd did taicho take the news?"_

"_He came up with an idea on how to make a map, but we will hash out the details when he's finished tailing the targets."_

"_That's good. Memorizing this place would be way too troublesome. I'm surprised he didn't argue with tailing the kids though after you gave your report."_

Kakashi got a very cold chill down his spine. _"Oh shit…"_

Shikamaru dropped his ink brush. _"You didn't tell him?!" _he asked incredulously.

"_He interrupted me and then we made the plan with the map and, and ... shit!"_

"_Which floor is the History classroom on?!" _Shikamaru demanded, standing up.

"_First floor! Classroom 4F!" _

"_Why the hell is a classroom on the first floor called 4F?" _The Nara yelled, making the hand sign for a shunshin.

"_How would I know?! I don't know what they're thinking!"_

"_Shut up and move!"_

A heartbeat later they had vanished leaving the rafters empty save for an ink brush and a scroll full of notes and equations.

…

Inside the small classroom there was no place for the Leaf nin to conceal himself without using chakra. Knowing he was going to have to either edit, or create a whole new seal, both processes taking a large amount of chakra, Naruto decided to lean against the back wall, partially consumed by shadows. Keeping the amount of clones he had active was no small feat and any chakra he could save would be helpful.

As soon as his figure was discovered by the students, fearful whispers broke out over the classroom. Students pointed and stared, Naruto ignored them.

"Take your seats please. We will begin with the history of the troll war…" an eerie voice floated over the excitable students. Naruto froze. A ghostly figure floated through a bookshelf at the front of the class and proceeded to the pedestal on the dais. The ghost wore an old English styled suit. Its colours faded beyond perception and the overall hue was a milky white. Through the spectre, Naruto could see the wall beyond. Neji said he could see chakra systems around the castle, but _ghosts_?

An irrational fear took over him, freezing him to the spot. Ghosts. One fear he had never been able to conquer. Never beat and never understand. He could deal with missions that involved massacring families, hunting traitors, espionage, black mail, reconnaissance… he could even tell ghost stories well enough. He had never seen a ghost before, something he was eternally grateful for, until now. One way to confront his fear was the strong denial they didn't exist, but now the spectre floated

Professor Binn's class was by far the most boring in all of Hogwarts. Guaranteed to induce sleepiness within ten minutes, five on a warm day. As the class began to lose interest almost immediately after the ghostly teacher began his lecture, whispered conversations broke out over the classroom, many students choosing to relax and doze in the stuffy classroom. After fifteen minutes of the lesson passed, the only alert student decided to sneak a glance at the silent ninja, forgotten in the corner.

The deep shadows covered him so she couldn't see his fists clenched so tightly they were white, or that his breath was coming in sharp, shallow bursts that made his chest move up and down rapidly. If she were to look in the holes in the fox shape mask she would see the whites of his eyes that only showed when strong fear was coursing through the owner's body.

But what she did see was two other ninjas suddenly Aparate in front of the ninja. One took hold of their guard and disappeared, leaving the one with the deer mask to lean against the wall and observe the class. Quickly she turned her head around, before the masked man could catch her watching, and paid attention to the Professor as he described a particularly nasty battle between two clans during the Ogre Wars.

She felt his gaze weigh heavily on her back. She didn't turn around and sneak a peek at the guard for the rest of the lesson, although she could see some of her fellow students snatching furtive glances at the silent watcher. She didn't even look at him as she passed when the bell rang and they trooped out the room. Even when she turned the corner, Hermione Granger could feel the unblinking stare of the ninja called Deer on her. She clutched her books with hands that shook.

…

Neji was enjoying the breeze that drifted around him. From his perch on the roof of the astronomy tower he could easily keep watch on the grounds of the school. To say he was surprised when his captain shunshin'd to a parallel tower, anger radiating off him would be an understatement. They weren't scheduled to swap posts for the next few hours, and nothing had breached the borders, so there wasn't anything life threatening. But when the cold, clipped voice said they were switching up positions, he didn't question it. He knew better than to argue with the ANBU captain when he was angry. Saluting, the dove masked assassin vanished, leaving the blonde man to mutter to himself as he kept vigil over the school.

…

"_Report_."

Alpha team had commandeered the third floor corridor as their base of operations. A clock chimed midnight from somewhere. Students were asleep and teachers patrolled the corridors, making sure the students remained in their rooms. The perfect time for a meeting.

"_You missed out on some fun today taicho."_ Shikamaru said, his deer mask still firmly in place and speaking their native tongue. As sure as they were that there were no jutsus placed to spy on them, they were in enemy territory, and being cautious always paid off in their line of work.

"_Oh?"_

"_Well it seems our charge has received detention for everyday this week starting tomorrow."_

"_It's the first day!" _exclaimed Naruto. Even when he was at his most troublesome he never got an entire week of detention on the first day of the academy. It was always wise of a prankster to observe his targets before taking action.

"_Guess which class he got it from?"_

"_The one with the ministry woman." _It was a statement, not a question. They had all seen this encounter happening. "_Start from when you took over from me."_

"_Hai. After the History lesson they had an encounter with one Cho Chang, a student from Ravenclaw. All signs point to Potter and Chang being enamoured with each other. We may be able to use this. Next was a Potions lesson with the professor Severus Snape, The one who is also a member of the Order. That was entertaining to watch. Snape and Potter have some kind of mutual enmity for each other; we'll need to look into that more."_

"_Why's that?" _Questioned Kakashi.

"_Snape blatantly favours his own house Slytherin, over the others. Handing out punishments to the others and rewards to his own for pretty much anything. So much so it's a surprise he hasn't been pulled up on it. Even with that, he pays special attention to Potter."_

"_We'll discover their history later. Continue."_

"_Hai, taicho. During lunch Potter, Granger and the Weasley boy argued, resulting in Potter spending the rest of the lunch period in the Astronomy Tower off the seventh floor. The next class was divination. The art of predicting the future." _No one missed the dry, sarcastic tone in Shikamaru's voice. They all smirked. _"The lesson consisted of reading a book and then trying to discern omens from their dreams." _Ignoring the choking that sounded suspiciously like laughter, the Nara heir ploughed on.

"_Here's the good bit. Next class was Defence Against the Dark Arts with Umbridge." _He knew he had the complete attention of his audience now. _"The beginning of the lesson started off with Umbridge discrediting the previous four Dark Arts teachers, using their poor teaching skills as the excuse for them to get back to the basics. The first ten minutes was of the class reading a book. Now it gets interesting."_

"_Umbridge had written the course aims on the blackboard, Hermione Granger questioned them." _He could see Neji shaking his head. Even they knew Umbridge was not a foe you go against straight on, without a plan._ "The entire course plan was to study theory, nothing practical. Granger asked why. Umbridge's response was _'If you study the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examiner conditions." He didn't have to see behind his team's masks to know their mouths had dropped.

"_But that's so stupid!" _the ANBU captain exploded. "_It's like looking at letter's one at a time until you can say the alphabet backwards, then being expected to read an essay! Theory's well and good, but if you don't practice –"_

"_Yes, taicho, we know. The majority of the class felt the same way too. Especially since the exams they are all fretting over have a practical segment to them. Umbridge then insisted that there was no reason to practice since there is nothing dangerous enough to warrant using such spells."_

"_Voldemort."_

"_Who she insists is dead."_

"_So they're refusing to arm the students with 'potentially dangerous' spells they'll need to protect themselves because they want to public to remain ignorant and therefore consolidate their political positions?"_

"_Hai."_

"_I hate this place. Continue Deer."_

"_The resulting argument between Umbridge and Potter resulted in her giving him his detention and then sending the boy to one Minerva McGonagall. The head of Gryffindor house, Potter's house. She is also a member of the Order and scolded Potter for being reckless and told him to keep his head down around Umbridge. At least the senseis are aware of the danger of that woman."_

"_So we'll have to accompany the boy to his detentions, joy. I'm not in school and I have to go to detention." _Naruto grumbled, fully aware to the amusement of his team_. "What have you learned Dove? Apart from the fact that the chakra signatures are ghosts." _Kakashi winced.

"_The ghosts are harmless." _Neji said smoothly. _"According to_ Hogwarts: A History; A_ ghost is the disembodied spirit of a once-living wizard or witch. Only magical beings can become ghosts. These fleshless spirits were either afraid of death or have some extraordinarily strong connection to the locations they haunt. They cannot affect anything physical. But –"_

"_But?"_

"_Poltergeists can."_

"_What is a poltergeist?" demanded Naruto._

"_A spirit of chaos. They can affect physical objects but can only be affected by enchanted objects. They are different from ghosts in the sense they were never alive, and ghosts can only walk where their living-self had, poltergeists can go anywhere and love to…" Neji trailed off._

"_Love to what?"_

"_Prank people. They are basically spirits of mischief and enjoy pranking people."_

The room was silent. Each of the team awaiting their captain's response; they all knew his fear; Shikamaru even had an idea of why he was so scared of ghosts. The idea of having an enemy that no matter what you did, you couldn't fight, you would be helpless if they decided to attack you or your loved ones. That was something that no matter how hard Naruto had become, would chill him to the bone.

"_So there are a bunch of ghosts that can touch or do anything except float there and the ones that can do stuff just enjoy pranking people?"_ Their taicho questioned.

"_Hai."_

"_That makes life a lot more interesting then, doesn't it?" _

Inaudible sighs of relief went through out the room. Naruto grinned.

"_I won't freeze up, I just hate surprises."_

"_Well Dog _was _meant to tell you. He just got lost on the path of life? Or did a black cat walk across your path and you were too busy concentrating on how many years of bad luck you have to remember to tell taicho?" _Shikamaru asked evilly.

"_Maa, maa, everything turned out ok, no need to keep bringing that up."_

"_Bring what up? The fact that the Silver Fang of the Leaf, the leader of a quarter of the Ninja Alliances army, the great Copy Cat ninja, wielder of the Sharingan – forgot a detail in an SS ranking mission?" _Shikamaru continued mercilessly, grinning.

"_You realize the next time you slip up and I happen to be there, you will pay for this ten-fold?"_

"_It is still so very worth it."_

"_Anything else of interest to report?" _Naruto interrupted. When the two former child prodigies starting arguing, it went for hours. He was in a good mood, but not so good as to put up with it.

"_The Granger girl."_ Shikamaru stated.

"_What about her?"_

"_It could be worthwhile to keep an eye on her."_ The Nara stated cautiously. He thought about what he had observed before continuing slowly. _"She is intelligent."_ The team nodded. They all knew this already. Shikamaru obviously had something else to say about her. _"When I took over from taicho today, she observed the switch over. Also, during our stay at Grimmauld Place, she kept looking at our insignias. She has retrieved books on fairy tales as well as warfare from the school's library. Also she is the student who saw through Umbridge's opening speech and simplified it for the Potter boy. We need to be careful around her."_

"_You think she could be a spy for Dumbledore or Voldemort?" _Naruto questioned sharply.

"_No… I don't believe so. From the behaviour the three has expressed, they see themselves separate from the Order; they will fight Voldemort their own way."_

"_So Potter is the leader and Granger is the general?"_

"_Weasley would be the general. He has more connections with the other students, and he probably doesn't notice but could easily lead a force against the enemy. Granger is more like strategist. She gathers the intelligence and advises Potter on what to do. If he was smarter, he would listen to her more often. As it is, I don't think they even realise they have organized themselves so. Actually, Granger probably has, hence the research into our origins as well as warfare."_

"_Very well, I will send a clone to tail her as well as Weasley. If they plan to make their own army they need to be watched. If there's nothing else, it's time for night watch."_

His team saluted him. Shikamaru and Kakashi disappearing, they were on patrol. Neji walked to where he had placed his bed roll. As Naruto settle down to mediate before sleep, he could hear the dove masked ANBU mutter to himself.

"_If this is the first day, I'll have grey hair by the end of this mission."_

Naruto chuckled. Indeed, the three years was going to be quite interesting, but hopefully, if they finished this war before Potter finishes school, they could go home. Home to where they were really needed. Feeling memories coming to the surface of his mind, the ANBU captain cleared his mind before he could think to deeply.


	6. Chapter 6

Dark, rumbling laughter echoed around the cavernous room. Water moved calmly at ankle height, disturbed only by the boy standing in the centre, his blonde hair a shining light in the gloom of the shadowy sewer. In front of him, a massive cage that encompassed half of the room held back the strongest and deadliest of demons.

The Nine Tailed Demon Fox stared down at his pathetic human container. Laughter died away and hatred welled up inside of him, curse the Fourth Hokage! How dare that pitiful human seal him away in a brat! One who doesn't even have full control of his power and emotions, it disgusted him. He was the mightiest of Biiju, the king of all demons, and he was trapped in this sorry excuse of an existence. The Sage had things wrong when he decided to protect these arrogant ninja. Taking hold of his rage, he calmed himself. He laughed again.

Soon

Soon, he would be able to escape this accursed prison and wreak havoc upon all worlds. He would start with the Elemental nations. The ignorant shinobi had made their greatest mistake when they sent his container outside of the barrier. Malicious humour caused him to grin.

The boy continued to stare at the fox as it looked down on him. When it grinned, he turned and left, not a word spoken between the two. The one thing Naruto knew, that grin was full of victory. He was right, the Kyuubi was planning something. And if the furball had a plan, it did not bode well for them.

…

The next day dawned just as rainy and miserable as the previous. One thing the three young wizards noticed was Hagrid was absent from the staff table. Harry shrugged of the strange occurrence; they would see him today in Care of Magical Creatures anyway. First he had to get through double Charms and double Transfiguration. And if yesterday was any indicator, they would lecture them more on OWL's. He was glad for Hermione, if it wasn't for her, he would never be able to get through all the homework the professor's deemed necessary to torture them with.

His homework saviour was yawning widely. After helping the boys with their homework, she had spent the majority of the night researching. She felt mildly guilty that she wasn't able to knit hats for the house elves at the moment, but resolved to make as many as she possibly could when she solved the mystery of the ninja. They were more important in the grand scheme of things, even though that realization cut her to the quick. If only more people thought of the suffering of others, she'd have help in her noble crusade to save the poor creatures from the chaffing chains of slavery. But alas, there were more important things she had to deal with first. Having strangers who had killed three people in front of her eyes as guardians was not a comfortable thought.

Those blasted ninja! It had only been a day and they have made their presence known. Fred and George being the unlucky victims. She ought to be glad that their experiments on first-year students had stopped before they could really get started, but the skill and precision the guards had shown in all of thirty seconds left her scared. In one talk with the twins, they had confiscated all of the trial Skiving Snack boxes as well as all the equipment and ingredients they used to make it, before unerringly leading them into the hands of Professor McGonagall.

Not to mention the second that anyone had pulled their wand out in the corridors in-between class, one of them was there, taking the wand from the person's hand before giving it back to them. Never speaking a word, as if they were telling the students that they were everywhere and they were watching. She needed more information. No one could be in so many places at once, even if they were somehow able to magically Aparate around the school.

That symbol, the one on their arms. That was the key. Ever since Grimmauld place she knew that symbol from somewhere and knew that if she found out what it was, all her questions would be answered. But she knew that the ninja would not be showing it off if they weren't confident of the fact they knew no one here would recognize it. She hadn't known these ninja long, but she knew they were smart. She needed to be careful. With the way they murdered Draco, Crabbe and Goyle without hesitation, she knew if she crossed them in the wrong way, she would die.

She had buried the thought of the Slytherin boys deeply, not wanting to face the reality. It seemed as if Ron and Harry did the same, distracting themselves with the now and not confronting the event for as long as they could. Even just thinking about it gave her the shakes. She had seen a dead body before, when Harry came back from the Triwizard Tournament with Cedric, but she had never seen anyone killed in front of her. To have life snuffed out so easily and effortlessly. The ninja were ruthless monsters. Terrible, intelligent, ruthless monsters.

Which would make her job harder, but she relished the chance to use her brains against people who were of an equal if not superior intelligence. It was a great way to test her skills to see if her other plan was ready to be put into motion. Fear was not an excuse to not do what is right. She must succeed.

Harry and Ron left her alone. They knew that focused look on her face, and interrupting it would be disastrous. Instead, they grabbed their things, prodded Hermione to signal their departure and left for the day's lessons.

…

It was Kakashi's turn to trail the three teenagers. It was decided that he would be the most suitable since he would also pay attention to the magic classes. He was very interested in the vanishing spell that the wizards had been practising in Transfiguration. The Granger girl that Shikamaru had pointed out was the only successful one; he couldn't even sense the presence of the snail she had performed her spell on. He'd need to discover the parameters of this spell, used in enemy hands could be dangerous if they knew how to apply it to their line of work.

It also meant he was present during Care of Magical Creatures when the trio saw that the Slytherin boys he had 'taken out' on the train were actually still alive. The reaction of the girl was the most surprising. After the disbelief and shock had passed, a focused, calculative look took over. Nara was right; they needed to keep an eye on her. A bird's cry made him look up. A tropical wagtail was circling above the group of students. It was a hunting bird native to the Land of Fire; it did not exist in England. Kakashi smiled, Naruto knew the situation already.

He discreetly pulled his cloth mask down and activated his Sharingan. Active chakra patterns drew him to their main targets. Each of the three's ties were actually Naruto's kage bunshin henged. Focusing on the ground at their feet revealed a line of ants that kept poofing out of existence, only to be replaced by a new one every few seconds. Kakashi once again marvelled at how advanced his once student had become. This kind of technique was unheard of and required master control and massive amounts of chakra. And do so from a distance! He was proud of him.

His pride quickly dwindled when he remembered why Naruto had progressed so far so fast. He may have one brilliant ex-student that was destined to become Hokage, but he also had two ex-students that were topping the bingo books of every nation and had ruthlessly killed many people close to them. He didn't know whether he passed or failed at teaching.

Shrugging thoughts about his path of life away, he used his Sharingan to read the lips of the targets as they met the Slytherin boy.

…

Draco Malfoy was surrounded by his usual gang of cronies. Harry stared dumb struck. He saw that ninja guy kill him! He was sure of it. Glancing at his two closest friends revealed their faces to be in the same state of shock he was. The guilt that he had buried deep within himself since the event came to surface, before transforming into confused rage. Excellent; someone else who was lying and hiding things from him. It didn't matter to him that the ninja had no obligation to tell him anything, he just knew that for two days he thought he had been the cause of a murder.

Draco strolled past the stunned trio, not a scratch on him. His face still its normal shade of pale, blonde hair slicked back, pointed face still smirking in that annoying superior way. As he walked past he murmured something to his fellow Slytherins causing them to shout with laughter. From the looks they were giving the three, it wasn't hard to guess the subject of the joke.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" It was Ron who broke the silence. His freckles a bright contrast to his pale skin.

"They did it to tell us something." Hermione replied. A frown marred her brow and a look of deep concentration covered her face.

"They did what?"

"Well imagine. If they beat up Malfoy like we had wanted them to, they probably thought we'd go around, purposely putting ourselves in danger so we could have them fight anyone we wanted. By doing it this way, we were shocked and guilt tripped into being good."

"They pretend to kill someone, make it seem like our fault all so we would _behave?"_

"They're clever. And they know human emotions well. This is a message."

"Well, what are they saying?" Harry asked impatiently, his temper already at boiling point.

"That they will go to any lengths to keep us safe. Our bodies, not our minds. They do not care if we get mentally and emotionally traumatized from whatever they do, as long as they fulfil their 'mission' that they spoke of at the Welcoming Feast. We need to be careful."

"They're psycho!" exclaimed Ron. "Wouldn't they care about our state of mind if they really wanted to protect us?"

"That's what I'm thinking. There is something else going on between them and Dumbledore. Did you notice when the fox masked one spoke at the Feast? He said _any _threat. I'm sure that means teachers and students as well. I don't think Dumbledore has much control over them."

"So we are being guarded by a group of vicious killers who at any time decided that letting us live is too bothersome and then mercilessly hack our necks off? Brilliant."

"Calm down Ronald. I'm sure they have a reason; we just have to find out what it is. The more we understand of them, the easier it will be to predict their movements."

"In the meantime, it's just a waiting game? Great, so it's like another Voldemort," Harry said scathingly. He turned and stomped off to the hut that was the Gamekeepers house. He needed to see Hagrid. He wanted to have a talk about something insignificant, Flobberworms or something. Something that didn't involve doom of the world or his imminent death.

"Everyone here?" a stern voice barked. Harry felt his heart sink through the bottom of his shoes. Professor Grubby-Plank stood in front of a pile of twigs. The Gryffindors and Slytherins grouped around her. "Good. Now who can tell me what these are?"

Hermione, in full class mode, shot her hand in the air with eagerness. Harry just glared at the pile of sticks. Today was not going how he wanted. Where had Hagrid gone off to?

…

The afternoon did not get any better. After an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures, which left him feeling very annoyed (Hagrid could teach just as well as that Grubby-Plank woman!), Angela reminded him of the Keeper try-outs being held Friday night… And the fact he had detention every night for the week. After promising to ask Umbridge to get out of his Friday detention, he hurried to the Great Hall to get dinner and finish some of the homework they had been given, before his first appointment with the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

While Harry was inhaling his food, Naruto appeared beside Kakashi who was using the ceiling to conceal himself. Really, whoever thought of the genjutsu that covered the rafters saved them a lot of work.

"_Time for switch-over. I'll accompany Potter to his detention and you can fill Deer and Dove in what you learned from the lessons. The clones only pick up conversation close by, so I miss the lessons. If there's anything important or interesting, let me know at the meeting. This 'Kwiditch' thing popped up again today. Tell me about it later."_

"_Hai, Taicho."_

Kakashi bowed and vanished. Naruto got comfy and watched his target. They had about half an hour left before he was due to go to Umbridge's office and from the looks of it, the boy planned to do as much of the mountain of homework he had been given as he could. The Weasley boy joined him, whilst the girl… the girl was reading a book full of fairy tales. Naruto narrowed his eyes. They might have to intervene quicker than they thought.

They knew the titles of all ninety-three books that had information on them, and memorized the twelve that existed in England at the moment. But the Granger girl, the book she was reading was one that was meant to be in Germany right now, and it had some info on them. Mind you it was in the form of a story, and didn't reveal any of their powers or anything about their culture but how did she manage to get her hands on that? Naruto tsk'ed. They were going to have to reschedule their plans. They were meant to go over the forest tomorrow, they would have to change that and go through the Library instead. As important as securing all the grounds was, protecting their information was a higher priority. His clones could only hear what was going on around them, not see what their targets were doing. He was going to have to assign a tail on the girl as well. Damn, this means cutting their reconnaissance resources.

While he figured out how to reshuffle his team, it reached five to five, and Potter got up to leave for his first detention. Creating a clone, dispelling it and waiting exactly two point seven seconds before he appeared, he summoned Neji.

"_You were slow."_

"_Sorry Taicho, you caught me eating."_

"_Watch the Granger girl while I follow Potter."_

"_Hai, but may I ask why?"_

"_Look at the book she's reading."_

And with that, Naruto disappeared. The Dove masked ninja turned and focused on his new target and nearly fell off the rafter. _Shit, _he thought. _I'm definitely going to get grey hair._

…

Harry knocked on the door and a sickly sweet voice told him to come in. Repressing a shudder, he entered cautiously. He stopped, dumb-founded, for a moment as he absorbed the horror of the room. He had been in this room when it was occupied by three of the previous Dark Arts teachers, but none of them had abused the room the way this woman was. White and pink lace was draped over every surface possible. Vases of dried flowers stood on their own lace doilies and were heavily perfumed with something that made Harry's stomach roil. Ceramic plates painted with kittens covered the far wall, each feline with its own brightly coloured bow.

Using the boy's transfixed state, Naruto stealthily snuck into the room, henged as a moth. The brightly light room too much for his sensitive moth eyes, he landed in a corner and changed into a common dormouse. Situating himself in a position where he was hidden as well as able to see everything (The shadows between a book and the wall of the bookcase), he examined the room. Immediately, active chakra drew his gaze to the plates on the wall. Each of the kittens had some 'magic' imbued into them to give them movement, but one of them had more than the others. The plate in the centre held a black kitten with white socks and nose sat calmly in the centre of its domain. Its eyes fixed on the Potter boy. He'd have to get either Neji or Kakashi to find out what the chakra was linked to, because it was definitely surveillance of some form.

"Good evening Professor Umbridge." Harry's voice turned the ninja's attention back onto the two people in the room.

"Please, sit down," the frog woman said, pointing to a straight back chair and table draped in more lace. Harry didn't move.

'Uhm, actually, before we start, I – I wanted to ask you… a favour."

The squat woman's gaze became more intense, almost gleeful.

"Oh, Yes?"

"Well, you… you see, I'm on the Gryffindor Quiddich team. The Seeker. And this Friday we are having tryouts for a new keeper, because our last one graduated last year. At five o'clock. And – and I was wondering If I could, um, miss detention that night and make up for it… another… night… instead…"

He didn't even need to finish the sentence to know the answer. Umbridge smiled widely, viciously.

"Oh, no," that sweet voice making Naruto want to vomit. "Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, attention seeking lies Mr Potter. And your punishment will not be changed to suit your convenience. No, you will come here five o'clock every day this week and do all of your detentions as planned. It's actually a good thing you are missing out on something you would like to do, it will help the message I am trying to send, _sink in."_

Naruto could see the anger rising in the Potter boy. He'd be angry to if someone called him an evil, attention seeking liar. Oh, wait, people have. It did make him angry. He could empathize with the boy. But unless the Gama-woman did something to physically harm the wizard, he wouldn't step in. It wasn't his problem and it wasn't part of his mission to coddle the child.

He remained watchful as Harry swallowed his rage and stiffly sat down at the desk Umbridge had indicated earlier. The woman couldn't help rubbing salt in the wounds.

"There, aren't we getting better at controlling that nasty temper already? Now your punishment is going to be a few lines Mr Potter. Not with your quill," she said as the boy reached for his bag. "I have had one _specially _made for this exact circumstance." Naruto did not like the sound of that. With narrowed eyes he surveyed the woman.

Umbridge handed Harry a quill that had been sitting on her desk. It was thin and black with a wickedly sharp point. Naruto started. The thing had dark chakra flowing through it. He had missed it because it was so quiet, almost sly. But it was definitely dangerous.

"How many would you like me to write?"

"Oh, just enough for the message to _sink in._" Again with the emphasis on 'sink in'. Naruto tensed his muscles. He created a clone. If he was going to interfere with a teacher, he was going to have to get back up. When he found out what the quill did, he would dispel the clone, alert his subordinates, who would then alert the right people and come back him up.

"I want you to write, 'I must not tell lies.'"

"You haven't given me any ink." Harry protested.

"Oh, you won't need any," The woman said with a hint of a laugh. A malicious, victories laugh. Confused Harry placed the tip of the sharp quill on the parchment and wrote: I must not tell lies.

Instantly he dropped the quill and let out a gasp of pain. Naruto jumped into action. Undoing his henge, he seized the quill before it could touch the desk, and placed himself in-between the boy and the teacher who was smiling with violent glee, which turned to shock and fear when she beheld all his fox masked glory. Examining the quill, he dispersed his clone. He had seen enough.

Harry was too busy staring at the words carved into the back of his hand to notice the ninja, but when the skin healed over and he went to look at his Professor, he got a start when he beheld the sheathed short sword that stood directly in his line of sight. Looking up at the blonde hair revealed its owner to be the leader of the guards. So they were watching after all.

"What are you doing?!" Umbridge near on screamed, her face an ugly mix of pale and red splotches showing her fury and fear.

"We said, not three days ago at the Welcoming Feast, we were here to protect the students and ground from _any _threat. That includes teachers and other students." The shinobi's monotone a cool opposite to the screeching of the Dark Arts professor.

"This is a punishment he earned and he will carry it out! I am a teacher and senior under-secretary to the Minister of Magic! I hold absolute authority on how I discipline my students!"

"That is true. But the second that 'discipline' moves into areas of torture, which this device was invented for, we step in."

"You have no right!"

"Actually they have every right, Delores." A pleasant voice interrupted. Everyone bar Naruto turned to look at the door way, he kept his gaze fixed on Umbridge. He knew from the signatures that his team had brought Dumbledore and McGonagall to the office. His team materialised by his side, creating a barrier of flesh between professor and student.

McGonagall strode to Potter's side. "Hand," she said sternly. Even though he voice was hard, the hand that held his was gentle. Her fingers ran over the red patch that was all that remained of his wound. She frowned.

"There is no evidence of this torture you spoke of," she directed the statement at Naruto.

"This device makes the holder wound himself by writing in their own blood. If you doubt me, check the 'ink' that Potter has used. If that is not enough –" He took off a glove and grabbed the sheet of paper. Swiftly he wrote the word _fox _down before anyone could stop him. As the quill moved, marks appeared on his hand and blood started to well, before the wound closed leaving a red mark. The word on the parchment shone a sinister red, proof that his own blood was used.

"That was unnecessary Fox," Dumbledore said calmly. "Had we not believed you, we would not be here."

"Dumbledore, you have no right to interfere in how I teach my students!" Umbridge shrieked her face red with fury. "I am senior under-secretary to the Minister of Magic himself! I have his full approval to teach how I see fit."

"Ah, but Delores as you are senior under-secretary, right now you are a professor at Hogwarts. As I am still Headmaster, that places you under my authority, so if I wish for you to not use this certain type of punishment, you must obey my wishes."

'The Minister –"

"Has no power here, Delores. By all means you may send an owl to him, but for now, please use the traditional methods to discipline the more rowdy students." Dumbledore's smile never left his face, his voice still that pleasant tone as if discussing the morning menu.

Umbridge's chest heaved with the intensity of her anger. All too suddenly she smiled in that sickly way. "Of course Headmaster, I apologize if my methods seem a bit… extreme, but dirty, attention-seekers liars need to be punished. Potter!" Harry jumped at being suddenly addressed, so absorbed in the power struggle he was.

"Y – Yes professor?"

"You are dismissed for tonight; the commotion seems to have sapped me of all my energy." Her sugary tone back in full force. "Come back tomorrow, five o'clock, and we shall resume with your detentions."

"Yes, Professor Umbridge." He bent and grabbed his bag.

Harry nodded and passed Dumbledore. All the questions that had been buried inside him bubbled to the surface, but before he could ask a single one, Dumbledore smiled and wished him a goodnight, before turning and walking in the other direction. Frustrated and exhausted from the day, he silently followed his House teacher back to the tower. He had a lot of stuff to tell Ron and Hermione.

"Get out, now!" Umbridge demanded. The ninja stared at her silently, before disappearing. Shocked into silence by the use of what had to be an Aparate spell, Naruto, the last to leave slowly walked up to the woman. Like a predator stalking his prey, he moved smoothly and silently. The squat woman had to look up at the ninja who was at least two heads taller than her.

"Remember, we are here to remove _any _threat to the students." His whispered voice was silky and deadly. Umbridge shook. Before she could muster a retort, the man had vanished and she collapsed into her chair. She needed to send an owl to Cornelius. He had to know the threat of these ninja, and… a smile spread over her face, how she figured they could be exploited and used.

…

"_Well that was certainty interesting." _Kakashi said to the other members of his team as they assembled for their nightly meeting.

"_Understatement. How was that woman expecting to get away with torturing one of her students?" _Neji asked, pulling off his mask and placing it on his bedroll. They had agreed to use a genjutsu to cover their faces with illusionary when they took their masks off. They realized the ghosts could be used as very successful spies since they had no presence and the only thing able to see them coming through walls or detect that they were nearby was the Byakugan. The genjutsu allowed them to remove their masks safety whilst keeping their appearances hidden. Really, Naruto had some smart ideas hidden away in his head. Only people with high levels of chakra, such as them, would be able to see through the genjutsu. This way it was weak enough to not cost much energy to maintain.

Shikamaru, Kakashi and Naruto followed Neji's example and removed their masks. "_I bet Potter wouldn't have said anything. His pride would not allow it. Telling someone what was happening would seem like losing to the woman. Admirable, but stupid." _Naruto snorted

"_We need to keep an eye on her now as well." _Shikamaru said, already sprawled on his bedroll, eyes closed, anticipating the moment he could sleep.

"_Why's that?" _queried Neji, who picked up the dinner he had abandoned when the captain called on him to trail the girl.

"_To see if she tries it on any other students."_

"_She wouldn't be so stupid,"_

"_She would, to test a theory."_

"_What kind of theory?" _Naruto asked sharply, his attention riveted on the lazy genius.

"_If she uses this form of detention on another student, and we don't appear, it's practically screaming at her that we are here primarily for Potter, not for the benefit of the school as we stated. I don't know how she would exploit it, but any information that disgusting toad of a witch has on us or our objectives would be annoying, but I don't have to tell you that, taicho."_

Naruto scratched the back of his head furiously, his form of shouting in frustration. They were going to have to divide up their forces even more! Speaking of which.

"_What did the Granger girl discover about us?"_

Shikamaru sat up bolt fast. "_What do you mean 'discover about us'?"_

"_She got her hands on one of the fairy tale books that has info on us. One that is meant to be in Germany right now."_

"_She what? How did she get that?"_

"_I do not know, which is why tomorrow, we are going through every book in that Library until we discover how she got it. The forest we will do after we find out. We'll settle with protecting the perimeters of the castles and the grounds that are most frequented for now, as this takes higher priority."_

"_Understood." _His team replied in unison. Naruto then looked at Neji, who didn't need any more prompting.

"_She knows what was written in it. It is a book that is hard to come by as well. A complete first edition of the 'Brothers Grimm." The authors who wrote the most popular fairy tales for civilians. It seems that they were actually werewolves and even though the stories have been tamed somewhat from the original, were all based around true events that happened in the magical world."_

"_Clever." _Shikamaru pointed out.

"_The tale that has reference to us is actually a story about the Sage of Six Paths."_

All occupants in the room blinked. The Sage of Six Paths was the legendary creator of all shinobi. The one who invented ninjutsu and brought peace to the elemental nations. Even they did not know much about the man they revered almost as a god. How the hell do wizards know? Unless…

"_Give me the book." _Naruto demanded. Neji nodded and fished the commandeered book from one of his sealing scrolls. He knew his captain would want to read it. After all, he read it and he was rendered speechless.

'_Chapter fifty-two, page seven hundred and twelve."_ Naruto flicked to the section and his eyes instantly began devouring the story before him. His team watched silently, and then listened as he read the story out to them.

…

_SIX SPELLS AND NINE ANIMALS_

_There once lived a pair of twin brothers, each wielding powerful magic. They were the only people who had such powers and so, they avoided the normal folk, for fear of scaring them. They lived quietly on a hill away from other people. Their wooden hut was rickety but protected them when the wind decided to howl or the rain decided to pour. They had little of material value, but they were content._

_But every day when they descended their hill to gather food for their supper, they saw something they could not forget. Their world was torn by war. Unable to continue watching all the innocents suffer, they made a promise. They would each travel in different directions and use their powerful magic to bring peace to the world, and in ten years, they would return to their hill._

_The first brother believed that peace would be achieved when there were no more enemies to defeat. That only by showing absolute power, could peace be achieved. And so, as he travelled, he conquered the lands he came across with his powerful magic. No matter the country or the people, he ruled them all. United by a single ruler, there was peace in the world._

_The second brother believed that by everyone understanding everyone else, there would be no more cause to fight. So as he travelled he taught his beliefs to the people, only using his magic to save and heal the injured. The people he taught began to follow him and worship him as a god. He turned down positions of power offered to him and he protected the people he had become friends with from the unknown person who had started a quest for world domination._

_Alas in time, six months before their scheduled meeting time, the two brothers met again, on the battlefield. The first brother had come to squash the last rebellion to his rule, and the last obstacle to peace. The second brother was fighting to protect his friends from slaughter that threatened to destroy their way of life._

_When the brothers came face to face, everything stopped._

"_Brother, why do you stop me? You are getting in the way of our dream." The first brother asked._

"_Brother, why do you do this? You are the thing we set out to stop." The second brother asked as well._

"_The only way for true peace to reign, is if all people are united by a single person. Then there will be no fighting over land or over rulership. With absolute power no one can stand up to, no one will object and there will be no fighting." The first brother explained._

"_That is not peace, that is oppression. You are neither the first nor the last in your idea of world domination. Peace will only come through understanding. Peace is not something you can gain by sacrificing others. Our power should be used to protect, not control."_

"_Will you fight me, my only brother?"_

"_I will not."_

"_Then surrender to me."_

"_I will not." _

"_Then you will die."_

_The first brother then unleashed his power, allowing it to take physical form, for he knew to defeat his brother he would not be able to hold back and expect a victory. As his magic took form, something wrenched within him. Suddenly, he could no longer control his power. A creature emerged with a conch shell-like upper body with long, spiked-like protrusions on its back. Its unique eye, taking up most of its head, had four concentric circles with nine tomoe in the three circles closest to the pupil. Ten tails waved behind it, crushing everything they touched._

_The first brother fell, his life draining from him. The second rushed to him, and as he held his dying brother, he understood what had happened. The arrogance that his brother had developed had warped his brother's magic and so when unleashed, took a form of its own. One with no thought or feeling apart from the urge to destroy. Promising his dying brother he would be back for him, the second brother faced his new foe._

_The beast roared, and swiping it claws, tore chunks from the land and threw them into the ocean. The second brother watched as the villages he had come to love and protect get hurtled into the sky and splash into the ocean. Knowing he had not the power to defeat such a mighty enemy, the second brother came up with an idea. _

_Using his magic, he created a bond with the beast. His magic and his brothers were intimately connected by blood; their magic would always have a connection. Using the resonance between their two powers, the second brother connected to the beast. Unaware of the actions of the tiny wizard, the ten tailed demon continued to break apart the land. Some chucks of earth were large, others were small. It reached from areas that it should not have been able to reach, and it threw them all. As if picking random places from the world and hurtling them into the abyss. Pieces of desserts, forests, swamps, mountains, ranges, bush, plains, every type of scenery imaginable was thrown. Yet the beast was still not satisfied. Using the great power it had been created with, it started to attack the sky itself. Rain clouds, hurricanes, mists, thunder, sunshine; all were taken and thrown._

_The second brother acted, knowing if he allowed the creature to be free, it would be the end of the world. Using the bond of magic, he used the demons limitless magic to power his spell. He focused his energy and cast his strongest spells._

_His first spell reinforced his body, giving him the required strength for the task he was undertaking, The Asura spell. His second he used to absorb the power of the demon, The Preta spell. Then he used his Animal spell and summoned nine different creatures to him. Once the animals were assembled he used his Human spell and drew the very soul of the ten tailed beast from its body and split its power amongst the nine creatures he had summoned. _

_The beast raged as it felt its power dwindling. With a last burst of strength, the monster wounded the second brother, before each of the tomoes in its eyes separated and vanished into the bodies of the now immortal creatures the brother had summoned. But even then the power of the demon was too much for the creatures, and so the brother used his fifth spell, the Deva spell. He forced the remainder of the beasts power into the air. Countless glowing spheres of light flew into the sky and scattered, spreading all over the world and were absorbed by the humans who populated it.  
><em>

_The very first witch and wizards were born._

_The beast was gone, sealed within nine creatures. Its remaining power absorbed by humanity. The second brother fell, his would sapping the life from him. As he lay dying, he could see his brother across the torn battlefield and summoned the last of his power. Drawing on his very life force, the second brother used his last spell. The Naraka spell. An apparition appeared by his brother, and even as his sight dimmed, he saw his brother heal._

_The first brother woke and searched for his sibling. Finding his corpse he cried. As he cried, nine creatures surrounded the pair and mourned as well. The first brother looked at the beasts that shared his sorrow and named them. They were the evidence of the sacrifice his brother had made. How wrong he had been. And because of his arrogance, his brother now lay dead. Overcome by rage at himself, the first brother took the shell of a body that was all that remained of the ten tailed beast and hurled it into the sky._

_The first brother looked out over the ocean and saw the lands that had been thrown by the beast. He gathered up the nine creatures and using the power his brother had given them, he created a spell. One so powerful that it would remain for all time. Taking a portion of power from each of the animals, he created a barrier. It surrounded the lands destroyed by the ten tailed demon. He would dedicate his life to helping the destroyed people rebuild. He would teach them of their magic so should they need to, they would be able to protect each other, he would teach them of all his brother held dear, the desire to love and protect those you cherish. _

_And for the remainder of his life, the first brother walked the lands he now protected, teaching the people and bringing peace to their war torn homes. Those gifted with magic gave their services to those who had without, and those who had no power, supported those who did. While he travelled, he used only the six spells his brother used in his last moments, and became known and the Wizard of Six Spells. The animals that had been imbued with power, scattered, knowing that their duty was a heavy burden and each choosing to deal with it in their own way._

_And when, at last, it came time for the brother to rest, he bequeathed his two sons with his knowledge and power in hope they would carry on his journey. And finally, he went to join his brother…._

…

The ninja sat in stunned silence. If they were to take what this story said as fact, that means that…

"_The Sage was the very first wizard in this country?"_ Neji asked dumbfounded.

"_Wizards didn't exist then, he would have created wizards." _Naruto said, not really paying attention.

"_It ties in with what we know of the Sage…"_ Shikamaru said quietly. The squad looked at him. He was sitting, crossed legged, on the stone floor. His hands placed together in a hand sign he had invented to help with dealing difficult problems.

"_Explain."_

"_Well, from what we know, the Sage was a monk who appeared long ago in an age of endless war. He was the first to discover the truth of chakra, and with it he tried to lead the world to an era of peace instead of conflict. He travelled across the land, spreading his ideal and religion, the Shinobi Sect, which became known as ninjutsu only a few centuries ago. We also know the sage defeated the most powerful demon in the ninja world, the Ten-Tails, and was praised as a god for the virtue of his victory. In order to protect the world from the Ten-Tails, the Sage developed a certain technique to seal the beast within nine different creatures that then became known as the Tailed Beasts._

_The two brother's attitudes even mirror the two sons of the Sage's ideas. One who believes power is the path to peace and the other who believes love and understanding is. The Juubi throwing land into the ocean could be seen as creating the Elemental Nations; it explains why in such a small part of the world we have so many climates, though I'm sure there are some experts who would argue that."_

"_It does tie in quite neatly." _Kakashi stated.

"_So it was the second brother who defeated the demon, and the first who created the barrier, and the first also threw the body of the Juubi onto the moon, but it was the second who actually created the tailed beasts, who back then, apparently didn't have the emotional issues they do now, and roamed the land free?" _Naruto tried to clarify. Shikamaru nodded. _"And do we have any idea what this "__heavy burden"__ is that was mentioned?_"

"_It doesn't mention anything else."_

"_Do the Kage's know this story exists? Have they read it?"_

"_I don't think so taicho." _Neji said. "_We would have known something about it if they did. I think they knew the story existed from reconnaissance reports but not the content. It would have been referred to as a creation myth of shinobi, and so we wouldn't have bothered with it. It's only recently that we are actually paying any attention to the Sage. If the Akatsuki didn't have a member with the Rinnegan, like the Sage was rumoured to have, would you have paid any attention to this story."_

"_I hate when you talk common sense." _Naruto mumbled. He scratched the back of his head for the umpteenth time that day. _"We're going to have to find all ninety-three books that have been recorded and read them. Who knows what else had been forgotten with time? Also, Dove, what did the Granger girl make of all this?"_

The rest of the squad blinked as they remembered the cause of the current topic. "_She thinks the idea that the first wizard came around due the dispersement of a demons power to be absurd, but she believes that there is a bit of truth in it as she paid particular interest to the part mentioning a barrier."_

"_We need to find out how she got this book, but we mustn't seem too interested. If we do, she will know there is something important in it. Dammit, I wish we could just kill her and be done with it." _Naruto pouted. It would make things so much easier. No more having to deal with intelligent, suspicious people who were trying to get you to fight a war for them. But they couldn't exactly kill a person they were hired to protect. Why did life have to complicate itself more?

"_Also taicho," _Kakashi interrupted. _"You should probably destroy this."_ He held up the parchment that had the words 'I will not tell lies' written with his blood on it. _"If Dumbledore used the Second's water to control his grand-niece, I wouldn't want to think of what he could do directly to you with your blood."_ The ex-sensei smirked, it wasn't often he got to pick up on something his student missed, but when he did, he milked it for all it was worth. Naruto frowned.

"_I'd thank you if you didn't just ruin a plan I had." _Kakashi faltered.

"_Wait, what?" _

"_That's a duplicate. I destroyed the one with my blood on it already. That's the fake blood Deer helped develop back in the Leaf for diversionary tactics. I wanted to see what they intended to do with me if they had control of my body. It would help illuminate some of Dumbledore's plans."_

Kakashi dropped the letter and with a dramatic sweep of his arms, "_And once again our mighty taicho shows why he is leader." _Naruto grinned.

"_Now explain this 'Kwidich' thing to me."_

"_It's the magical world's most popular sport. Two teams face each other and the aim is to get the red ball into one of three hoops. Three people aim to score, they are called Chasers. Each goal is worth ten points."_

"_Sounds boring."_

"_They made it interesting. They can fly on broomsticks, so it's played in the air. They also have these two balls which fly around with them. Their purpose is to try and unseat the players by crashing into them. Two players wield clubs and aim to make the balls, Bludgers they call them, into the opposing team. They're called Beaters."_

"_So if someone is hit by one of these balls, they fall to the ground and most likely to death and if they're hit by these Bludgers…?"_

"_Severe injuries, taicho."_

"_How the hell are we meant to protect these people when they put themselves in danger like this?"_

"_It is how they find excitement I guess."_

"_So what is Potter's role? He said something about being a 'Seeker'?"_

"_There is a third ball called the Snitch. About the size of a walnut, it flies around and when it is caught by the team's Seeker, the game ends. The team that catches it gets one hundred and fifty points, so it's pretty much a game decider and the Seeker the most important player."_

"_And a Keeper? That's the try-outs he wants to go to."_

"_A goalie of sorts. The Keeper stays in front of the hoops and must defend them."_

"_So it's also a game of tactics?" _Shikamaru asked.

"_They plan formations and strategies to use in the game, but the main aim is to get the Snitch."_

"_Sounds tiresome."_

"_Anything that requires effort to you is tiresome."_

"_Using effort makes me tired, hence 'tiresome'."_

"_Anything else to report?" _Naruto interrupted before they really got going. Sometimes having two geniuses was just really annoying.

"_The Weasley boy intends to try out for Keeper, he keeps sneaking off for practice. He hasn't told the other two. The Gamekeeper, Hagrid, the half giant one who met as the train station, has also vanished. His replacement is Grubby-Plank. Dumbledore said that the man was running an errand and that we shouldn't worry about it. So there's something else they're hiding."_

"_Let's sort out who's fighting what battle." _Neji suggested. He was beginning to get a headache from following all different aims of the people who inhabited the castle.

"_Good plan. First is the obvious Dumbledore vs. Voldemort. The war we were hired for."_

"_Then there is the Ministry vs. Dumbledore, with Umbridge as a representative of the Ministry." _Shikamaru added.

"_Then Potter vs. Voldemort. They are allied with Dumbledore, but are acting separately."_

"_And the Ministry vs. Potter. In this one we could probably group Dumbledore and Potter together as the Ministry is trying to discredit both of them, but separate because the methods used are different."_

"_We have the three vs. Slytherin. That's their rivalry, in no terms any form of friendly."_

"_Slytherin will be the dangerous ones." _Naruto stated. Shikamaru nodded.

"_They are in the best position. They have ties to Voldemort, the father of the Malfoy child is a known follower of the missing Nin. And by allying themselves with the Ministry, who are ignoring Voldemort, they can use both resources to take down Potter. If they play smart, they could end this quickly."_

"_Remember the days when it was just one insane maniac we had to take down? No politics, no intrigue, just point us at the person, we kill them, and bam. Peace for a short while till the next ego-maniac showed up."_ Naruto sighed wistfully. His team nodded in understanding. This mission was messy.

"_It is fate that we have been given this mission. With our skill, we are the only ones capable of understanding and handling it."_

"_I thought you stopped that whole 'it's our fate' thing?"_

Neji just smiled. Naruto shook his head ruefully; he would never be able to understand what went on in the mind of the Hyuuga heir.

"_So tomorrow, I will follow the three. Dog and Deer, you go through that library, every book I want examined. Dove, you will have perimeter surveillance. My clones will have to suffice in patrolling the corridors, after our show today, hopefully no students will try and break the rules. Meet here –"_

He stopped speaking the same instant Neji leaped up from his bed roll.

"_Perimeter breach, coming from the lake. Move out, eliminate threat."_

…


	7. Chapter 7

Enjioy your chapter kiddies. It was tough when I don't have any internet. Admire the lengths I go for you readers, admire!

Once McGonagall had watched him climb back through the Fat Lady portrait, Harry ran to the common room. Hermione was sitting in their favourite chairs by the fire reading some large book of something, Ron was nowhere to be found. She stopped when he stood in front of her. Taking one look at his sweaty, pale face and taking in his out of breath state, she put down her book and gave him her full attention.

Seeing her put down her book, Harry sat in his chair and launched into his description of the night.

…

Dumbledore paced his office. He paused briefly to stroke the majestic bird that watched him before continuing his circulatory route of his workspace. He distantly registered his deputy watching him with worried, yet stern and calculating eyes.

"The Ministry is making their move quicker than we anticipated." Minerva stated. "It's hasn't even been a week and that woman is already probing for weaknesses."

"Indeed. If it had not been for the ninja, I doubt we would have known about what was happening in his detentions. Her Screening charm is quite impressive, I do admit."

"We should not be admiring her spells, but working out how to get around them!"

"I wonder how they managed to infiltrate her office without being caught," Dumbledore ignored the Transfiguration teacher and continued to speculate. "Even Mrs Norris was unable to enter that room with her knowing."

"Yes she was very frustrated at that. I had to spend an entire afternoon with her to make her feel better. Even sun basking on the spires wouldn't cheer her up."

"I know changing into a cat is getting difficult for you lately and I thank you for that."

"It is nothing, Albus."

"Their high skill will make things more challenging however. If they could get into Delores room without her knowing I have no doubt that they would be able to get into any room in the castle."

"So they could be listening to us right now?" McGonagall quickly cast her eyes about the room, trying to catch a glimpse of the ninja she thought were lurking in the corners.

"No, they are not here now. Fawkes would have informed me. Phoenixes have a very strong connection to… the only words I could use to describe it is life energy. He is able to sense people's spirit. If there were living creatures in this room apart from us, he would know."

McGonagall stared in amazement at the legendary bird. She knew it had special powers and skills, such as the tears that healed any sort of wound, but it still awed her every time she found out something new about it.

"These ninja are indeed skilled, despite their age." That brought her attention back to the conversation.

"What do you mean 'despite their age'?"

"Oh it turns out that they are only teenagers. Except for the dog masked one, he is thirty I believe."

The transfiguration professor was speechless. Children were guarding them? Children were being sent into battle? Children had been able to infiltrate a room that Albus wasn't able to? Before she could form a sentence in her mind, there was a _poof_ and smoke erupted in the centre of the room.

Wands instantly leapt into the two teacher's hands. Fawkes trilled a high note and Minerva cast a _protego _charm around the two whilst Albus prepared himself to attack. When the smoke cleared, they were presented with a sight that threw them completely off balance.

Two of the ninja stood, one covered in blood splatter. The crimson liquid casting the figure in an ominous light. Held between them was an unconscious man. As one they released their grip on the man and he crumpled to the floor without a sound. _These were children_? Minerva severely doubted that.

"At eight-thirty two in the pm of the night of September third, a group of five breached the perimeter via the lake. We defeated them. We kept this one alive for interrogation purposes. The other bodies are being disposed of. From the information we have been able to gather, none of them were Death Eaters or anyone of standing within enemy ranks." The deer masked man reported. As soon as he finished, the two bowed before disappearing in the same puff of smoke that announced their arrival.

The two Hogwarts professors stared at the place where their hired protection just stood. Once he was over his shock, Dumbledore was a whirlwind of motion. Waving his wand, the unconscious intruder was lifted by invisible hands and dangled in the air. A table appeared out of nowhere, and on it was a shallow stone basin. A silvery substance, that was not quite liquid and not quite gas, filled it to the brim. When the hovering body started moving towards the pensieve, Minerva spoke up.

"Albus! What are you doing?!"

"This man witnessed the ninja in action. By reviewing his memories we may be able to find out more about our elusive and mysterious guards."

"You plan to extract this man's memories? Against his will?"

"Indeed. I have no doubt the ninja have retrieved all the information they could about the enemy from this man before handing him over, it's their job after all. No, the only information this man could offer me is what his memories contain."

"But Albus! Using the Pensieve without someone's consent, is it even possible?"

"It is Minerva, but it is very difficult magic as well as illegal. I ask that you leave while I do this, so that if something happens you may have deniability."

"Nonsense, I am the deputy headmistress of the school and we are at war. Risks must be taken. I will remain where I am."

Dumbledore smiled at the stern woman. He had a dependable general. He turned and began to work his magic. Fawkes was still trilling that high note, but was ignored by the professors. Focused on their work they simply put the noise in the background and chalked it up to the surprise of the ninja.

Unknown to them, a small fly that had been sitting on the windowsill poofed out of existence, the same time that the bird stopped singing.

…

Eric Fresner had worked at the Ministry for twenty-eight years. He and forty other wizards made up the security of their wonderful government. He was usually stuck with checking the visitors that passed through the golden doors on a daily basis due to his uncanny skill in magic detection. He helped with the magic detection spells that enabled the Ministry to discover new witches and wizards and also if any student decided to perform underage magic. He was proud of his work, for he was the best at what he did.

So when the Minister of Magic himself asks him to do a special task that was of the utmost import, he immediately sorted his affairs and prepared to leave. He didn't wonder why there was a security breach at Hogwarts, or the fact his travelling companions were Dementors. He didn't even question the source of the Minister's sudden intense fear and paranoia. He would do his job and protect the Ministry.

…

"Dumbledore has a way to extract memories." Naruto told his team. They were assembled deep in the Forbidden Forest, their surroundings lit by the ominous glow of a bonfire. The smell of cooking flesh filled the area. "And that bird can detect active chakra."

"Yes, Legilimency isn't it? This world's version of the Yamanaka clan's mind reading?" Kakashi said, his eyes not moving from the burning pile. One of the first things they had been told was how wizards interrogated people. The list was surprisingly short. "We shouldn't worry about it. According to the texts we've found, to block it you use Occlumency. This, basically, is shutting down one's emotions and clearing their mind. You all learned that in the academy."

"No it's something different. He is using a stone basin. He somehow extracted the memory itself and is able to view it in the bowl." Naruto said flatly. "Dumbledore is currently preparing to review what that guy saw before he was knocked unconscious."

"He won't find anything. We are not so sloppy as to let our targets see us before we strike," Neji snorted. He was sitting on a branch high in the air, keeping watch as always. "Deer only let the blood splatter on him for dramatic effect."

"Does that mean when viewing, they'll witness my technique?" Kakashi asked.

"That is very possible. You didn't to the egomaniac thing and describe your skills to the enemy before you killed him, did you?"

"Taicho, I'm insulted. I stopped that habit two years ago." The Sharingan user sniffed.

"So they have an interrogation technique we do not know of. Interesting. I will research this stone basin. Any idea what it is called?" Shikamaru asked. He was leaning against a tree, hands behind his head, and the very picture of ease. The last year had numbed them to the basic horrors of what they did.

"The transfiguration sensei called it a Pensieve."

Shikamaru pulled out a scroll and wrote down the name. "I'll check every hour for a response, taicho."

"Good. Now we just need to find this Peter Pettigrew person. The next few mercenaries they send should have more solid information on him." Naruto mused out loud. The men they had killed did not have much information to offer them. They were approached by a small, rat looking man who hired them in the name of Lord Voldemort to have the honour of killing Harry Potter. How they did it was up to them, with a deadline of two weeks. The group rushed in, thinking the school to be undefended this early in the semester. Wizards may not have efficient interrogation tools, but shinobi did. And when you have a user of the Mangekyo Sharingan, there is little tsukiyomi cannot convince you to reveal.

"Taicho, we have visitors." Neji called from his branch. At once the lazy atmosphere disappeared as each of his team materialized at his side. The forest was silent as they awaited the arrival of their 'visitors'

Five minutes passed before they heard the sound of galloping steps as a group approached. Neji's Byakugan was impressive as always, they must have been fifteen kilometres out when he first saw them.

As the unknowns grew closer, his team tensed and readied themselves. Naruto waited for his scout to report. Usually Neji would have instantly informed him of the numbers and allegiance of the enemy by now.

"Taicho, they are not human." The dove masked ninja's soft voice came to Naruto's ears. Ah, that would explain it. "They have the head and torso of a man, but their lower body… is that of a horse. I thought it was a mounted group at first, but the tenketsu systems were connected not separate as a horse and its rider would be. I apologize for my incompetence."

"You are forgiven Dove, don't let your surprise impend your duties in the future. Understood?"

"Hai."

"That would make them centaurs." Kakashi said. "It would take too long to tell you everything, just know they are half-horse, half-man, not half-breed, very proud, and recently do not like humans or the Ministry."

Just as he finished speaking, the centaurs galloped into the clearing. Naruto estimated their number to be around thirty-five. Not bad odds. Their weapon of choice seemed to be the bow, and with the way it was carried effortlessly and easily, they were quite comfortable with it. From what he could see, their human and horse parts were smoothly connected, so well that there was no distinctive line were man ended and horse began, they were one being. The medic in him wanted to examine one up close; he also knew that there were people who would kill to fuse bodies as well as this creation before him.

There was no distinctive colouring or features that defined them apart from the horse bodies. Skin colouring ranged from porcelain pale to dark chocolate. Their horse's coats were a range of dapple grey, palomino, white, grey and more. Some had socks and strips. One thing they had in common was that all of them had long wild hair and beards.

The centaurs cantered around the squad in a complex pattern that would have been impossible for people who were not melded with their horse. No doubt to make them feel intimidated and trap them at the same time. Little did they know they could easily jump to one of the dozens of branches that hung around them.

A centaur with wild black hair and midnight body step from the herd and approached them.

"Who are you and what do you do in our forest?" he demanded, his voice deep and full of confidence. He would be the leader. Naruto stepped up to him, as his team crouched with their hands over their chests. When two leaders were meeting it was customary for subordinates to step back and make themselves less significant. Also, they would be able to react quicker crouched than standing. They were polite, not stupid. The surrounding centaurs murmured at the uncommon practice of good manners.

Naruto dipped himself in a small bow, enough to show respect, but not subservience. He was the next Hokage to his village; he had proper etiquette beaten into him.

"Greetings. My name is Fox and this is my team. We were hired by the headmaster of this school to serve as bodyguards. We are currently disposing of a group who infiltrated earlier this evening. What may I call you?"

The centaur curled his lip in distaste at the cooking bodies. Barbaric humans and their petty struggles. "We sensed strange beings in the Forest. You are different then the humans that live in the castle. What are you?" The centaur demanded, ignoring Naruto's question. Something that was not lost on him.

"That is none of your business." He replied flatly. Good manners be damned. If they refused to show him respect, he would respond likewise. The centaur pranced on the spot in anger.

"Human! You will answer our questions! You are trespassing in our territory and you will submit!" The herd that surrounded them placed arrows on their bows and drew, aiming at the small group of shinobi.

"Calm down Bane." A smooth voice spoke. Another centaur stepped forward from the circle. Unlike the others, his bow was not drawn.

"Magorian! These humans need to be taught respect!"

"Calm. Have you not read the skies? Their coming was inevitable." This centaur had a chestnut body and black hair. "We welcome you to the Forest, Child of the Prophesy."

Naruto flinched. He had not heard that term in a long time. And the mention of it brought back memories he'd rather not think of at the moment… or ever again. The ring of centaurs shifted, whispering quietly to each other.

"We must not treat these people the same as the humans. They do not come with the arrogance that the wizards fill themselves of. No, these are shinobi of the Elemental Nations." Stunned silence fell. "I do not know why you have revealed yourselves at this time, just that it was to be. And you, Child of the Prophesy, have a major role to play in the crossroads that are to come. It is written in the stars. We will not disturb you, but ask that you keep away from our territory. If you must breach our lands, a gift must be offered. Until we meet again, child."

Naruto nodded his head as the centaurs turned and left. So it seems that one was the leader, he thought to himself. That was a serious breach of protocol. If he was a stickler for the details, it would have annoyed him more. But, coming from his profession, he could understand some reasons as to why the head of the group didn't reveal themselves to unknown intruders.

"Dog, what did he mean by our coming was written?"

"Centaurs are star-gazers taicho. They predict the future through the movement of the planets. They can be quite accurate."

"They know about The Great Toad Sage's prophesy."

"So it seems taicho."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned from the sidelines. Naruto agreed. Prophesies were nothing but riddles created to control people. Jiraiya had lost his life following this particular prophesy, something that Naruto had never forgiven the toad clan for. They were lies, and anyone who followed them was a fool. His attitude had been adopted by his entire village.

"I want a report on all known centaur behaviours and prophesies, Dog."

"Hai."

…

After he had told Hermione what had happened, and they had thrown various theories around, Harry used his suddenly free night to finish the rest of his homework. He was practising the Vanishing Spell McGonagall has assigned them when Ron walked through the portrait, exhausted, and clutching his new Cleansweep Eleven. Mrs Weasley's gift to him for becoming a prefect. Harry raised an eyebrow at his sweaty clothes. When Ron saw Harry and Hermione looking at him, his face flamed red.

"Didn't you have detention?" Ron asked, trying to move the topic away from himself. Harry and Hermione didn't take the obvious hint.

"What have you been doing?" Hermione asked

"I fancied a walk, what of it?" Ron retorted

"With your broomstick?" Harry's eyebrow was still raised.

"Y-yeah. Got a problem?"

"Not at all. We just didn't realize you liked to take your broomstick for evening strolls. Is that wise? Your cauldron might get jealous if you start playing favourites." Hermione stated primly, going back to her book. Ron stared at her speechless. Harry lost himself to laughter. When she got snippy, she did it well.

"So are you going to tell us, or shall we just go with what we've got?" Harry got out, in between breaths.

"Well, alright, just promise not to laugh."

'As long as it's something better than playing favourites over your cauldron," promised Harry.

If possible Ron's face got redder. "I'm _not _taking walks with my broomstick! If you must know, I thought since now I've got a decent broom I could maybe try out for Gryffindor Keeper. There, happy now?"

Harry stared. "Ron, that's a brilliant idea! Are you any good?"

"Well yeah, I'm ok. I always play Keeper with Fred and George. Wait, are you seriously ok with this?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I be? It'd be great if you played on the team! How have you been practising?"

"Well I've been charming the Quaffles to fly at me…"

Hermione let them talk about sports for a couple of minutes, before clearing her throat. She liked Quiddich, she really did, but she didn't understand how boys could get so excited about it. Now a new book; _that _was something she could get excited about.

"Harry, perhaps you should tell Ron what happened tonight?" She suggested, still not taking her eyes out of her book. It was a listing of war strategies when facing a powerful dark wizard. It was based on how Merlin himself fought the dark witch Morgana. Avalon had a long and bloody history, and Hermione intended to learn all should could from it.

"Yeah, I thought she'd keep you till midnight at least. What'd she get you to do?" Ron asked, his face had returned to normal colouring now his secret was out. Taking a deep breath, Harry retold the events of that night again.

…

"Albus!" McGonagall cried out as the man crumpled to the floor. He waved away her concern and pulled himself up with the aid of his desk. McGonagall eyed him in concern, hovering over his weak form. His breathing was harsh and his skin was pale and clammy. She added getting a vial of Revitalization potion from Madam Pomfry to her to-do list. He may be a great and powerful wizard, but even he had his limits. And it seemed that using dark magic for over an hour was one of them.

"Minerva… the pensieve." Dumbledore whispered, unable to raise his voice any more. Nodding, the transfiguration teacher went to the stone basin and looked in. As soon as her head broke the surface; darkness overtook and she was absorbed.

At once she was transported to the sandy banks of the lake. Looking up she could see the glow of light that steamed from the Great Hall as well as the corridor that led to the boat house. She was on the southern side of the castle. A splash sounded behind her and she whirled about. Five shadowy figures were emerging from the lake, their clothes bone dry. That kind of charm was only possible by a very skilled witch or wizard, which also meant a very expensive one. Looking closer she could see that one of them had been severely injured.

"I thought you said this charm would keep that thing away from us!" The injured man hissed.

"It must have started wearing off! Just be happy we avoided the merpeople, they wouldn't have been distracted by an illusion like the squid was."

"Happy?! He broke my leg!"

"It's fixed, get over it! We have a job to do!" snapped the one that was obviously the leader. As one the men pulled their wands out and started forward. They were fidgety and kept glancing over their shoulder, as if afraid of being followed. The ninja were right, these we not people of importance. They were too nervous. McGonagall frowned, she was going to have to speak with the merpeople and the squid; they needed to be more alert.

Minerva followed the group as they moved away from the lake. They were following the edge of castle and heading to the boat house. The stern professor followed silently, observing all she could. Minutes passed without incident as the mercenaries scuttled along the wall. After dealing with the expertise of the ninja, even though it had only been one meeting, she almost felt sorry for the intruders. They were obviously outclassed.

A sudden breeze blew by rustling leaves, Minerva glanced at the sound. Seeing nothing, she turned back to the hired thugs and stopped.

All of them were on the ground, unconscious, with the intimidating figures of the ninja standing above their prone forms. The transfiguration professor gaped. She had glanced away for less than a second and had missed the entirety of the encounter.

"_Dog, interrogate them. Dove, keep look out. Deer, you're clean up. I'll set up silencing seals."_ The fox masked man, no… boy, commanded in quick Japanese. Cursing to herself, Minerva quickly cast a translation spell on herself. Spells on the environment wouldn't work, she was in a memory, but on herself would. Now she would understand what the black clad guards were saying. As she did so, she realized something. If the man whose memory this is was knocked out, how was she able to keep viewing?

She walked to the now captive intruders and checked. They were all still conscious, if very groggy. She started when she felt someone walk through her.

"_Yes captain." _The dog masked ninja replied. He and the deer masked boy placed the five bodies in a circle with their backs leaning against each other. Lifting his hand to his face, the dog masked man removed his mask. Minerva felt a surge of excitement as she prepared herself to look upon the face of one of the mysterious ninja. Disappointment filled her as it revealed yet another mask. These people were extremely cautious and it frustrated her.

The dog masked hand lifted his hand to his face again, but this time his hand went through the mask. McGonagall stared. Clever. Very, very clever. They covered their faces with an illusion so that even if they are caught unawares, their secret is safe. This information could be useful. After filing the little tidbit away in her mind, Minerva focused on the events unfolding before her.

The dog masked man lifted one of the men's faces up. The man stared groggily at the illusionary mask. Slowly, as if being dissolved, the mask melted from the ninja's right side, revealing an eye. Hypnotised, McGonagall stared at the swirling pattern in the blood red pool. She watched as the spinning pattern transformed into a different one. This one was sharper, all three dots connected in the middle.

The man staring into the ninja's eye contorted, then let loose the most terrified, blood-curling scream the transfiguration teacher had ever heard. Raw, agonizing pain and terror, all within that one piercing sound. And as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The man slumped over, drool slowly making its way down his face. The dog masked ninja moved left, towards the man whose memory she was viewing. Dog crouched down, just as the deer masked approached the already tortured and unconscious man. Quicker than she could she, he slashed a knife across his neck. Blood sprayed, covering the deer boy.

"_Blood?"_ She heard the dove masked boy ask, the one who hadn't moved and was facing the castle. How was he able to see what had happened?

"_Dramatic effect."_ Was the lazy response.

That was the last thing she heard as the dog masked man had reached her mercenary. The world around her faded. She felt her heartbeat quicken as she realized since she was following this man's memory, then she would also be following his torture. A sick feeling was born in her stomach as she viewed the spell she had been caught up in.

The world was red. The sky, the clouds, the sun… all of it red. Water covered the ground leaving no dry land for her to stand, and rose to her ankles. But it wasn't water, it was too thick, too heavy, too red…

It was blood. The land was covered in a sea of blood and she was standing in the middle of it. The sick feeling in her stomach grew. Looking into the distance, she could see nothing. The blood sea just kept going. Turning slightly, Minerva saw the only object in the deserted world. The mercenary was nailed to a crucifix. And he was fully aware of his surroundings.

"Welcome," said a pleasant voice. McGonagall turned and saw the dog masked man approaching.

"Where am I?! What do you want?!" The mercenary screamed in fear.

"Where you are is not important, what I want however is." She could hear a smile in that voice. The sick bastard was _smiling._

"Let me go!"

"Not until I get what I want. You obviously understand the situation so I'm not going to waste time telling you what will happen if you don't tell me what I want to know, and I'm not going to make promises of letting you go. You are going to die and your cooperation depends on how soon."

"Please… let me go…" the man whimpered, scared by the dog masked man's smiling voice and calm demeanour. A sword appeared in the dog masked man's hand. Its blade glinted maliciously in the red light, as if it couldn't wait to taste the mercenaries blood. Ignoring the request the ninja continued.

"Who hired you and what is your target?" that smile still in his voice. The mercenary was a sobbing mess and didn't answer. McGonagall swore she could hear a small sigh of inconvenience escape the mask of the ninja, before he slammed the blade into the captured man's shoulder. The blade sliced through muscle, bone and nerves before impaling itself in the wood of the crucifix.

The man screamed. But it wasn't short like the other one was by the lake. This one went on and on and on. But the transfiguration teacher couldn't bring her hand to her ears to block out the sound. In fact she couldn't move at all. Horror and fear rooted her to the spot she stood.

After what seemed an eternity, the man's throat could take no more and his screams died. The ninja approached.

"Six minutes and twelve seconds. Your friend only went for five. Now who hired you and what was your target?"

McGonagall started at that sentence. Five minutes? The other man had screamed for barely five seconds.

"Please… let me… go…" The man begged, his voice ragged from all of his screaming. The ninja just cocked his head, putting his silver hair on an even more extreme angle. Another blade appeared and the hired protector of Hogwarts shoved it into the man's other shoulder. The man screamed again, but the ninja wasn't finished. He grabbed the handle of the blade and _twisted._ The screams rose in pitch. Between the agonized cries, the man broke.

"Stop! Please…. I'll tell you!" The blades vanished. There wasn't even any entry wounds from what McGonagall could see. Delores little quill had nothing on the torture these ninja were willing to commit.

"Two minutes thirty-three seconds." The ninja stated calmly.

"I don't know everything. Thorn handle the details, we were just meant to break into Hogwarts and whack off some kid. We used to go here so we know some weak points, you see? Please, I swear that's all I know." The man blurted out, barely taking a breath to spill everything. The ninja nodded, before more blades appeared in his hands.

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you. Now, tell me everything." The man screamed as the swords impaled him, nailing him more firmly to the cross. But this time the man didn't stop at one or two. And he didn't stop at stabbing. He sliced, gouged, dug, ripped, chopped, grated, tore… he completely destroyed the man until Minerva couldn't even tell that the mass of flesh that hung on the cross was once human. McGonagall vomited. The sick feeling in her stomach had overwhelmed her. What kind of monsters were these ninja? What was Dumbledore thinking? Delores's quill really had nothing on these ninja. She retched until there was nothing left to vacate her stomach and all she was coughing up was bile. She could leave, she thought. Just pull her head out of the pensieve and not have to witness the end. Dumbledore wouldn't blame her; he would understand her not wanting to witness this horror.

But she would never forgive herself. She was the one who refused to leave; she was the deputy of the school. She had a responsibility to her students, to Potter. If she left now, she would be failing them. Steeling herself, she turned back to the torture.

And still the ninja continued his work.

Hours went by with the ninja always finding some bit of body he had missed, and then painting it in the colour red. Blood poured down the man's body, flowing into the sea that surrounded them all. McGonagall then wondered how many torture victims it must have taken to fill this world with a sea of blood. She then decided she didn't want to know. The mercenary hung on the crucifix, still alive and conscious, but throat destroyed and unable to voice his pain. Tears rand down his shredded cheeks, ignored over the pain of the blades. How he was still conscious, yet alone alive, was beyond the transfiguration teacher.

The ninja stopped. He had run out of places to inflict pain. Then, just as before, the swords vanished and all the wounds disappeared. The dog masked man approached the mercenary.

"Ten hours. Next we'll go for fifteen. Before that, is there anything you would like to tell me?"

The man looked at him, naked terror in his eyes. "Please… I don't know anything!" He pleaded, fresh tears coming forth. The ninja cocked his head again.

"I think I'll believe you."

McGonagall blinked and instantly found herself back by the lake. Warm light still shining from the Grand Hall above her, waves lapping gently against the shore. Her mercenary was still conscious. The dog masked ninja gave him no more attention and moved on to the next in the circle. The deer masked man approached her mercenary.

"_Dramatic effect? Why would you be bothered about that?" _Was the last thing Minerva heard before the world went black and she was forced to leave the pensieve. Her translation spell still in effect.

"_Merlin," _She thought, "_That was only a few seconds?"_

Delores's quill really had_ nothing_ on these ninja

…

"She's sick!" Ron exclaimed. "She's sick and twisted and… what's another word for sick and twisted?"

"How about evil? That sums her up nicely." Harry said darkly.

"Yeah, evil! She's sick, twisted and evil!"

"Ronald! Keep it down!" Hermione said, looking around. The outburst having drawn a few curious glances from their fellow Gryffindors. It was nearing ten and the common room was almost empty. Only a couple of students hurriedly doing the last of their homework were up and able to listen to their conversation. Waiting until the other students had turned back to their own issues, Hermione continued.

"But what do you think about the ninja?" She asked, whispering. "They were able to follow you without you or her noticing."

"Do you reckon they have an invisibility cloak?" Ron thought, taking the hint and whispering as well.

"No, I don't think so. They are rare enough in our world, let alone theirs. Plus if it was a simple as some cloaks, I don't think Moody would have had such a hard time keeping track of them at the Order. No they must have their own spells."

"These ninja are way different to the ones in the muggle world." Harry said.

"What are they like?" Ron asked curiously. It was Hermione who answered.

"Oh just p martial artists dressed up in black jump suits and cloth masks throwing things at each other whilst jumping from walls. I'm more interested in their meaning in wizarding history."

"Mum used to tell us bedtime stories about them when we were bad. First time they heard about them, Fred and George were good for a whole month." Ron shuddered.

"Whoa," Harry murmured. That was some accomplishment. He was witness to some of the things that Mrs Weasley threatened the twins with. It usually lasts a couple of hours at most, before they were up to something mischievous again.

"What kind of stories?" Hermione prodded. "All I can find out about them are these creation myths about how the first witch and wizard came about. But there are dozens of theories about how magic came to be, plus this one was just ridiculous."

"Well these stories my seven or something great grandmother told her kids and then it was passed down by word. They never wrote it down because the ninja were always watching and anybody they caught with information on them was killed and their family and friends killed as well so there was no chance that any information about them got out. Well, that's what Fred and George told me when I asked when I was little. But knowing them it's a load of baloney."

"But what stories. Tell us one. We need to know as much about them as possible." Hermione persisted. Ron's ears flamed red as Harry and Hermione focused all their attention on him.

"Well, alright. There was one that mum told me. I got her to tell me it again after first year, you know with the whole philosopher's stone thing."

"There's a story about ninja and the stone?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Nah, but this stone is kinda similar. It was called the Stone of Gelel. And the ninjas destroyed entire countries trying to claim it until the family that created it decided to destroy it and everyone who was fighting over it died. It said that the stone could give you all these wicked powers like shooting laser beams from your hands and stuff, and also immortality. That's what reminded me of the Stone."

"Did your mother tell you anything about their culture? Or their skills and powers? What about their way of life? What is their usual lifespan? Any other powers?" Also about –"

"Hermione relax! Jeez! I dunno, ok? I only know the story. I reckon it's like their world version of Eldorado."

"Eldorado? The legendary city of gold?" Harry asked, just making sure he had heard correctly.

"Legendary? Nothing really legendary about it, except it is an entire city made of gold. It's in Spain, and it's the goblin capital city. They hid it for centuries until these two muggles literally stumbled across it and then it was just a case of word getting around." Ron explained.

"Oh, I read about that!" Hermione added. "It almost started a war between all the world's magical governments and the goblins, because everyone wanted a claim of it but the goblins refused. It is one of the few places in the world that is unclaimed by any country, it is the goblin homeland. Unlike creatures say, centaurs and mermaids, who have herds and small cities wherever they find. Like the ones at Hogwarts. They just migrate to wherever suits their survival needs."

"So they're just squatters?" Harry asked.

"Oh Harry," Hermione sighed, "If you were ever to say that to a centaur or a mermaid, you wouldn't live to see your next breakfast. They are proud creatures. They live independently of our government and rule their own. The centaur herd in Hogwarts has been here for about the same time as the castle itself. If anything, they probably have more right to the Forest then we do. They live in there, we live out here. It is actually a very interesting subject – "

"So what about this Gelel stone?" Harry interrupted before Hermione could continue along her tangent.

"Oh, right" Ron quickly jumped, before Hermione could protest. "Well the story goes like this:

Once, there was an ancient civilisation. They were a poor mining city, and they were dying. But one day, a small family went mining and found the Stone of Gelel. The Stone had amazing powers, and using it, the city grew rich. For centuries the civilisation thrived and prospered, the small family who found it becoming its rulers. Soon, their population exceeded their boundaries and they looked for other places to settle. But as they expanded their lands, they came upon the ninja countries. The ninja refused to be conquered and sought to steal the stone for themselves because at the time there was a war going on between the ninja. Five families had risen up and were vying for power and they each thought that the Stone would be the way to get above the others. So each family sent out people to try and get it.

But at this time war was breaking out within the expanding civilisation. The Stone had been corrupted and everything was dying. Two groups fought with each other over what was to be done. One wanted to seal the Stone away so that none may ever use its terrible power again. The other wanted to use the last of the Stone's power to destroy the ninja and then settle on their lands so they have rich and fertile fields to live and grow upon. As the debate went on, the ninja descended.

The ninja were ruthless in their attack. Each of the five families had sent a small army to retrieve the Stone, but when they searched they could not find it. The Royal family had taken it and sealed it away, against the wishes of the civilisations people. In anger, the ninja united, and working together eliminated every person who knew of the Stone so that none may tell of their embarrassment of not being able to collect the item they had been told to get."

"That was probably one of the worse story tellings I've heard." Hermione said. Ron's ears flamed.

"Well it's a woman thing!" Ron retorted.

"_Excuse me?" _Hermione asked dangerously.

"Not like that! I mean, yes like that, but not like you think! Geez, if you want it told better, ask Ginny. Mum was taught from her mum and her mum from her mum and so on. Mum had probably told Ginny the stories coz she's old enough now. It's a tradition thing!" Ron hurriedly explained.

"Well you should have just said that in the first place! Boys!" Hermione stormed off and disappeared up the stairway to the girls dormitory. Ron and Harry stared after her.

"Girls, right Harry?" Ron asked weakly.

…

"_Taicho, we have a problem." _Shikamaru said, appearing by Naruto's side. It was his turn to patrol and he was currently perched amongst the beams of the Great Hall, hidden by the genjutsu that was showing a pretty star covered night sky. The constellations were different here; they might attend one of the astronomy lessons so they know the basics.

"_Yes Deer, I know_" Naruto said. He was reviewing what his clones had heard and witnessed from the Gryffindor common room. So there were stories that were not written down. This just got a whole load more troublesome. Protecting your identity on a mission was hard enough, but your entire culture? This was a giant headache. And how the hell do they know about the Stone of Gelel? He fondly remembered that mission; it was one of the first that he worked with Shikamaru.

"_Taicho, I know you're good, but how can you know? I only found out twelve seconds ago and that was because I was reading as they were writing."_

"_You've heard back from the Kage?" _Naruto's interest and unease were piqued. Something else was going wrong.

"_Yes, about the Pensieve. What are you talking about?"_

"_I'll tell you after you tell me what the Kage said." _

"_Hai. The Kazekage had information on it. Apparently, memories are extracted by a person and placed in a bowl where anyone may view at their leisure. It is not a tool that the government uses for trials as memories can be tampered with enough willpower. What the issues is, is that when viewing a memory, you view it as a third person party, not as first person."_

Naruto sat up straight. _"So even tho he wasn't looking at us and half unconscious, someone could have watched our entire process of information gathering?"_

"_Hai, the mind is an amazing thing taicho, unless rendered fully unconscious, the subconscious will pick up everything, and this device allows one to review everything the mind picks up. There is a silver lining though. The man we gave to Dumbledore was the second, so they wouldn't have been able to watch us going at the other three, and it was the fourth that gave us all the information we have."_

"_But that means they know about tsukiyomi. And it was a few seconds after Dog was done with him that you knocked him out which means a perceptive viewer will be able to tell he alters the perception of time in that genjutsu!" _Naruto swore colourfully.

"_But taicho, that also means that whoever views the memory will have to watch Dog torture the man! If we keep an eye out for whoever is unnerved by us, we will know who saw the memory, and then we know which party they belong to, so we can also estimate who else knows."_

"_Everyone is already unnerved by us Deer." _Naruto sighed. Excellent, just what he needed. This means if they were going to give any more intruders to Dumbledore, they will have to be the first to be knocked out.

"_Taicho?" _Naruto could almost swear Shikamaru was asking tentatively, but it was hard to tell with his usual lazy tone.

"_Yes, Deer?"_

"_What else has gone wrong?"_

Naruto sighed again. _"Well is seems that books aren't the only way to get information on us._ _The Weasley family have a tradition of passing down stories through the female line, stories which include us. The Ron child just finished telling one about the Stone of Gelel."_

"_You're kidding."_

"_I wish, Deer, I wish. My only conclusion is that the books that we have listed haven't been updates since a century ago. A lot can happen in one hundred years. I need to talk to the Kage. We are not going to be able to keep a lid on all of these fairy tales and stories. Speaking of which, did you find out how the Granger girl got that book?"_

"_Not yet, though I think the Librarian has something to do with it. We have yet to go through the Library, that is our plan for the morning. It has been an eventful night."_

"_That, Deer, is an understatement. Go and get some rest, I have watch till dawn. My clones are patrolling. I doubt anything else will happen tonight but you will be alerted if it does."_

"_Hai Taicho,"_ Placing his right fist on his left breat, Shikamaru saluted his ANBU captain before he shunshin'd away. Naruto rubbed his temples. It was the third day of the school year. The _third freaking _day. They had another three years of this?


	8. Chapter 8

Because I feel this is super amazing. This is the eighth chapter of Magic Of Ninja, and it is a total of eight thousand eight hundred and eighty eight words, excluding this little bit. HOW SUPER COOL IS THAT?

* * *

><p>Harry's detentions went by uneventfully for the rest of the week. He thought that Umbridge would be angry about the ninja interruption, but it was the complete opposite. She was giddy. Smugness just <em>oozed<em> out of her, and it had Harry thoroughly scared. He time with her lasted two hours every night and it was spent cleaning up the classrooms on the second floor. There was no torture, no more lines and no sign of her doing anything other than being a teacher punishing a misbehaving student.

In fact the entire week had been unremarkable. There had been no pranks pulled by the Weasley twins, no clashes between Slytherin and Gryffindor and the ninja were nowhere to be seen. After a couple of days of the guards silently appearing out of thin air to confiscate forbidden items and wands that some of the braver students decided to use, the entire school body had gotten the message and disobedience in the school was at a record low. Not that any of the fifth graders had anytime to misbehave.

The professors had given them enough homework to keep even the most serious of students up until the wee hours of the morning. Even Hermione, dedicated fan of extra school work, was having trouble keeping up with all that her teacher's asked of her. And she loved it. So much so that they didn't have another opportunity to talk about the ninja or their mysteries the entire week.

Friday night came, and Harry once again found himself outside of Umbridge's office. He was feeling more than his usual amount of depression at being here. The try-outs for the Gryffindor keeper were going to start in half an hour and he would be stuck wasting his time cleaning out classrooms that would have been cleaned by house elves anyway. He instantly felt the rage of Hermione at that thought and shivered.

He lifted his hand to knock on the door, only to stop as her heard voices coming from the room. Someone was in there with Umbridge. Not thinking twice about it, he lowered his hand and pressed his ear to door. It sounded like there were only three people and one of them was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Are you sure they are the real thing, Delores?" A smooth voice said urgently.

"I am, sir. Dumbledore said so at the Feast and from what they have done in just a mere week, I have no doubt they are the real thing," came the sickly sweet voice of Umbridge.

"Damn that Dumbledore! How did he even manage to contact them! This is clearly an attempt to usurp me!" Blustered a man. Harry had heard that voice before, it sounded exactly like the Minister of Magic. "We must send them back to where they came from; they have no business in this world!"

"Wait a moment Minister," came the smooth voice, confirming Harry's guess at the identity of the man in the room. "What if we managed to get them on our side? You've heard from Delores that they are not to be taken lightly. Why, if you had their legendary strength under control, no one would ever think of doubting your position. Just think of the Prophet headline! "_Minister conquers ninja threat!" _Or "_Minister discovers new magic entity" Maybe_ even "_Minister controls power of ninja" _The possibilities are endless sir."

"Lucious, you genius! But what do we do about Dumbledore?"

"Well Minister," the man now identified and recognised by Harry as Lucious Malfoy started, "I have a plan -" The voices stopped as the sound of a cat meowing got their attention. Harry stepped back from the door just as it opened, revealing an angry Umbridge.

"Potter! What are you doing outside my door?!" She demanded, her pudgy face flushed red with rage. Harry tried his best innocent and bewildered expression.

"Professor? I'm here for my detention… its five o'clock?"

Umbridge opened her mouth in surprise. Her rage vanishing instantly. Harry sighed inwardly with relief, she didn't notice his eavesdropping. The professor whirled around a looked at a clock, it showed five. With her back turned, it gave Harry a chance to look around her office. It was empty save for the wall filled with cat plates and the fire crackling merrily off to the side. Where had the Minister and Lucious gone? His wondering was cut short when Umbridge turned her attention back to him.

"Never mind about your detention tonight Potter, I am much too busy at the moment to spend my precious time teaching you right and wrong." Harry couldn't believe his ears, she was letting him off? "No, no. You have learned enough at this time. Besides, tomorrow should give you reason enough to stay out of trouble." She said happily. Harry turned cold, whatever made Umbridge this happy could only mean trouble for him.

"Um, Professor? What is going to happen tomorrow?" He asked cautiously. Umbridge's smile just widened.

"Oh, never you mind, dear. You'll find out soon enough." And with that ominous message, she pushed Harry out of her office and closed the door with a smart snap. Harry just stared blankly at the smooth wood in front of him. It didn't take long before something important occurred to him…

He could now go and attend the Keeper try-outs. All that was left in the spot Harry was once occupying was dust.

…

"_Sakura! I got the scroll!" Naruto yelled happily. He raced to where she stood waiting, along with Kakashi, Sai and Jiraiya. They had paused their training trip when word reached them that Tsunade had discovered the location of Orochimaru's new hideout where he was keeping the Uchiha. For two months they had searched, teaming up with Sai and another jounin named Yamamoto when Kakashi was unavailable. "Now we finally know where Sasuke is! We can get him back!"_

"_Oh Naruto, is it the real thing this time?" She asked excitedly as he reached them. "We've been searching for almost a year now."_

"_Believe it! Now I can knock some sense into the teme and he'll come back!" Naruto grinned. _

"_Mah, mah, Naruto, keep calm. First we have to get back to the village and let the Fifth know. Then we can make a plan to get Sasuke back." Kakashi interrupted, knowing if he didn't stop the excitement now, he wouldn't be able to later. _

"_Let it go Kakashi, let them have their moment," Jiraiya said putting his hand on the lightning user's shoulder._

_Naruto looked up at his sensei, feeling crestfallen at the reproval. But seeing his one visible eye crinkle up in a smile, he knew the jounin was just as happy as they were._

_Naruto turned to Sai, the newest member of their team looked lost. The blonde could see he was happy for them, but he could also see the ink manipulator felt left out. Naruto smiled and slung an arm around the uncomfortable Root-nin._

"_Just wait, Sai! You'll be able to meet Sasuke soon! He may be a giant pain in the ass, but he's great. We can be a full team seven! With Yamamoto sensei too!"_

_Sai looked into the smiling face of his teammate and felt an overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude. He was not going to lose this bond he had with his new friends. He was still going to be included. He smiled, not one of the fake, disarming ones he had read about, but a true smile._

_Naruto gaped at Sai as he smiled a real smile, before grinning back. They were all in such great moods. Everything was looking up. He had his friends and he was on his way to saving Sasuke. Finally, everything could go back to normal._

_That's what he thought before blood splattered over his face and he saw the sword bursting through Sai's chest, lightning crackling over the blade. Naruto stared, willing the stunned Sai to turn to black, for any sign that the person impaled on the wickedly sharp katana was in fact one of the crafty Root nins ink-clones. Blood dribble out from between Sai's lips and his dark eyes, finally starting to get that twinkle of emotion, dulled as the life left them. It was that moment that reality crashed into the jinchuuriki. _

_Deep, rumbling laughter rolled throughout the clearing and Naruto felt himself let go as his world turned red._

"_Taicho_!" Neji said urgently, shaking the ANBU captain's shoulder. He had been watching over his leader as he slept, sensing something was off. And he was glad he did. A few minutes ago the normally still ANBU started flinching in his sleep. When he felt dark chakra rising, he knew he had to wake him up.

Naruto moaned, eyes fluttering open. Light sweat dampened his brow, and he panted for breath. Before either could say anything, Shikamaru and Kakashi appeared by their side.

"_What happened_?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto didn't need to ask how they knew. He didn't have the best team for nothing.

"_I had a nightmare,"_ the Jinchuuriki deadpanned. Kakashi's posture stiffened. "_Yes Dog. Same as Grimmauld Place." _

"_Feel like sharing taicho?"_ Shikamaru asked, reading between the lines and knowing he was missing out on something.

"_It's nothing, who is tailing the target?"_

"_We left clones with instructions to disperse if they come across anything." _Shikamaru reported instantly. Shadow clones were a giant drain on their chakra, but when they sensed something wrong with their captain, the decision was an easy one.

"_Ne, taicho, you should tell them." _Kakashi said in that easy way of his. Once his had confirmed his ex-student's safety, he had reverted by to relaxed ninja he was known for.

"_It is not necessary to the mission Dog." _Naruto stated coldly. He was not one to share personal information. Yes, he trusted the three people here more than anyone. Well except baa-chan and Iruka, but history had shown that people he thought are his closest friends are the ones to betray you. The less they knew about him, the less they had to use against him.

Kakashi looked at the blonde. Despite the emotionless mask the next Hokage had employed, the Sharingan user still knew exactly what was going through his mind. Immeasurable sadness fell upon him as he realised he did not know what to do or say to make his student feel better. He laughed sardonically inside his mind, had he ever known?

_It's moments like these that the damage can really be seen, _thought Shikamaru as he observed the two men. Kakashi looked as if the world was weighing upon his shoulders, making him seem as if he were twice his age. Naruto just stared at the dog masked ANBU, eyes cold and face blank of any emotion. It was the face of any successful ninja on a dangerous mission, but on Naruto, it just seemed so… wrong. Some of Shikamaru's fondest memories were of Naruto, blue eyes sparkling and a wide, mischievous grin. Pranking Iruka at the academy, eating ramen so fast it was like he was inhaling it, determinedly believing in his friends until they shoved a fist through his chest. That Naruto was so pure, so determined to see the good in everybody.

This Naruto was the complete opposite. He had allowed darkness to taint his view on the world, seeing only the evil in people and never trusting in their good. This Naruto was hard, and there wasn't a moment where Shikamaru didn't curse the Uchiha and Haruno for causing it.

Kakashi stirred, as if finally deciding what to say. "_It is necessary if it interferes with the mission." _Naruto's eyes narrowed as Kakashi kept going, as if the glare gave him encouragement. "_If this keeps happening, your team will keep coming to your aid when they sense your fluctuating chakra. And if this keeps happening, you will not be getting enough rest to ensure you stay in prime battle condition which will then put us at a disadvantage when we encounter more enemies. We do not have the resources to constantly check up on you or cover you in battle whilst we complete the mission. Taicho," _he added for good measure. He was pretty sure it didn't matter though. Naruto was staring at him with rage he had rarely seen on his face. Usually when he looked this angry, there was a lot of collateral damage.

"_I agree with Dog,'_ Shikamaru said. Naruto turned and focused his glare on the Nara.

"_I as well, taicho."_ Neji added. He had been silent since waking his troubled captain.

"_Are you saying that I am incapable of completing this mission?" _Naruto demanded.

"_No, taicho. There is no point getting angry. It is a fact, you must tell your team."_

Naruto fumed. His team were questioning him. They were meant to follow his lead, not tell him what he should do. Indignation rose within him. How dare they presume to tell him what to do! He would need to show them respect, to show them how to address their captain. Not just their captain, their next Hokage!

But as he glared at the three people who watched him, he felt his rage deflating. His team had never ganged up on him before about something. They never push for him to tell them his personal demons. And honestly, he had the best team there was. If they thought it was something they needed to know, then they probably needed to know it.

As his reasoning overpowered his emotions, he felt frustration replace the rage. Frustration that wasn't his. Naruto frowned. The fox was starting to effect his emotions, not just when he was sleeping, but when he was awake. He was getting more powerful. He had to tell his team.

"_The Kyuubi is trying something and I'm not sure what it is." _

Instantly all of his team were tense. The Kyuubi was at the centre of the war, whenever there was something that had anything to do with it, bad things happened on an enormous scale.

"_What is happening?"_ Asked Shikamaru.

"_I'm not sure. He is influencing my dreams, showing me my past over and over. Whenever I relive it, my emotions get stronger, and I think he is feeding off the hate as now my emotions when I wake are even getting effected."_

"_What happened in Grimmauld Place?"_

"_Chidori and Sakura Blossom."_

"_And just now?"_

"_Sai."_

Kakashi winced. He did not know Sasuke's replacement long, but in the short time he was with them, he had become as much a part of the team as any of them. Plus is gave them great insight into Danzo's doings. Once Jiraiya had removed the seal on his tongue of course.

"_Has he talked to you at all?" _Shikamaru continued.

"_No. Every time I go and see him, he just laughs. And trust me; laughter from him is a very bad thing."'_

The room was silent as they all processed the new information. If the Kyuubi was getting stronger the Kage had to know.

"_I will inform the Kage." _Shikamaru said. _"Taicho, we need to keep an eye on this. Please inform us when the situation develops."_

"_Very well." _Naruto agreed.

"_So this means we need to add another player to the game. The Kyuubi is most definitely going to manipulate the situation to his advantage. It's Kyuubi vs. Everyone." _Neji added.

"_I think it would be worth investigating what this world has on our world. They may know things that we do not that could potentially change the war."_ Shikamaru stated.

"_You mean information on the Sage?" _

"_Hai. If we are to believe the bedtime story we found before, chakra and magic are related. We could weaponize their spells to give us an advantage. That vanishing spell the target is practicing for one. You can't even sense the snail's presence." _Shikamaru said

"_That's a good idea. But we need to investigate what the effects are, and their side effects." _Neji cautioned

"_Did we find out where the Granger girl got that book?" _Naruto asked.

"_The Librarian. Seems she is a powerful witch who just has an unhealthy attachment to books. She has a teleportation device that allows her to retrieve and store books throughout the world. She has access to almost any book in existence." _Kakashi informed them.

"_Is she in the habit of retrieving these books for the student body?" _Shikamaru inquired. It would be problematic if more than a handful of students got it in their mind to discover all their secrets.

"_No, just the Granger girl. Her dedication to books and homework has made her friends with the Librarian, who is known to dislike the students." _Kakashi reassured the Nara.

"_And she will tell all she knows to Potter. It has been one week. Have the little rebels made any plans or progress?" _Naruto asked.

"_No. They have been too focused on that 'Quiddich' game as well as the paper work the senseis give them." _Neji answered smoothly.

"_Yes, and they practice on Saturdays, which is tomorrow taicho."_

"_Have you all seen that 'game'?" _His team nodded._ "Good, I have a book here with all the rules. We will watch the practice tomorrow as well as patrol the field they play on… over. My clones will remain in the castle, one in each room and a couple patrolling the corridors. They'll also watch the lake and the forest,"_

"_What about classes?" _Neji asked. Of course the proper Hyuuga was confused by the strange timetable.

"_On the last two days of the week, they have no classes. They call these 'weekends'. Saturday is the sixth day of the week."_

"_Saturday? Where do they get these weird names from?" _Naruto muttered. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi heard.

"_It's interesting taicho. Saturday is named after the Roman god Saturn. Rome was an ancient civilisation in this world that once ruled most of the land. It was named Saturn's day and then shortened as the world evolved."_

"_And that's interesting how?" _Naruto asked edgily. For some reason his ex-sensei seemed really into the topic

"_Well Saturday is named after a Roman god, right? But Thursday, the fourth day of the week, is named after the Norse god Thor. It was originally Thor's day, but once again it got merged into one word. The Norse was a small culture dating to before the Roman empire."_

"_What are you getting at?" _Shikamaru lazily asked.

"_Well it's just their language is comprised of a lot of others. Very little of their society is pure English. It's like… it's like…" _Kakashi struggled to find a way to word what he was trying to say.

"_It's like the English language mugs other languages and cultures in back allies and rifles through their pockets for loose vocabulary and names because they can't think of their own." _Naruto said flatly.

"_Eloquently put taicho," _Neji said as Shikamaru lost himself to laughter. Naruto certainly had a way of putting things.

'_But don't you get it taicho?" _Kakashi pressed

"_Get what?"_

"_Everything we have learned about these English, from their culture, to their magic, to their vocabulary, it all points to one fact."_

"_And that fact is?"_

"_They're lazy."_

The room was silent as they each thought about what the dog masked ANBU had said.

"_Their language mainly consists of Latin, an ancient language in this world, mixed in with elements of other older cultures." _Kakashi continued,_ "They can't even create their own words. Half their traditions come from foreign countries."_

"_It's true," _Shikamaru said finally._ "All of their spells are created to make mundane tasks quicker and easier. I bet my shogi board that 'Vanishing spell' was created to clean messes."_

"_Transfiguration, changing things to suit your needs." _Neji inputted

"_Charms, spelling objects to do your bidding" _Naruto theorized

"_Potions has a little creativity." _Shikamaru said.

"_And Defence Against the Dark Arts" _Naruto conceded._ "These were created to conquer. I bet during any sort of warfare, they rely on these two subjects, and in times of peace they use the others." _

"_These kids will never have to work hard in their lives as long as they have magic." _Kakashi grumbled

"_They're spoilt." _Shikamaru summarized.

"_No wonder they're such a pain to look after." _Naruto sighed. _"Dog, have you gained anymore information from our guests?"_

"_No taicho. None of the eight teams of assassins sent know anything about Voldemort. They didn't even know about each other, which is why when the fourth and fifth teams stumbled upon each other, they started fighting."_

"_Fun for us though. They decided to fight in the middle of the Forest. We got to see what those centaurs are capable of." _Shikamaru drawled lazily. _"You isolate them or take their bow away, they are pretty much defenceless. The rely too much on each other. Teamwork is good, but you must be proficient at solo combat to truly be an effective player."_

"_This is not shogi Deer." _Neji sighed.

"_Same rules, same strategy." _Shikamaru shrugged. _"With such failure, taicho, they are bound to up their pawns strength. We might see a few rooks soon, maybe even a knight."_

"_You are thinking like a shinobi Deer." Naruto said. _Shikamaru nodded, before freezing and cursing._ "Glad you see it. These are not ninja. These are wizards. They will not send a stronger opponent. This Voldemort guy stinks just like Orochimaru. I bet they use the same tactics, and we all know Orochimaru does not deserve the title ninja, let alone Kage," _Naruto growled._ "No, his next move will be to try and overwhelm us. He will send all the pawns he can. Then he will send the rooks."_

"_What's the plan for tomorrow?" _Neji asked. Naruto nodded to Kakashi.

"_We will supervise the Quiddich training, as well as map out the grounds." _Kakashi informed the rest of the Alpha squad. _"We are all to be at the training ground so we can accustom ourselves to the game. The try-outs they held were quite… unsettling. After which we will summarize our findings and report back to you taicho."_

"_Good. I'll track the Umbridge woman too. She's doing something and I can't find out what."_

"_Has she upgraded her security?" _Shikamaru asked.

"_Yes. I can't sneak clones in anymore. She has some sort of screening process that disperses them upon entry. And whenever I hitch a ride in there on her clothes, she sends out a pulse of magic or something that disrupts my clone's chakra. Best I can do is listening in from outside, and she is in contact with the Minister." _Naruto said, frustrated. _"I would know more, but she caught Potter eavesdropping today and since then I can't hear a word. She probably cast some sort of jutsu around the room to stop sound escaping"_

"_Any idea on what is going to happen?" _Neji asked

"_All I know is it is going to happen tomorrow."_

…

A squeal of pain rang through the barren room as a small rat of a man was flung across it. Peter Pettigrew didn't stand up, choosing instead to remain prone on the floor. He did rearrange himself so he was bowing at the figure that towered above him.

"I am sorry My Lord. All mercenaries sent to Hogwarts have failed."

"How many did you send?" A cold voice asked.

"Nine groups in total My Lord." Pettigrew answered, fear making his voice wobble.

"I see. So Dumbledore has some protection for the school does he?"

"I do not know My Lord." Whispered the rat man. He had a second of dread before pain blasted into him, making him fall back against the wall behind him.

"Did I say you could speak?!" The cold voice demanded in rage. Pettigrew's body began to shake as his fear became uncontrollable. "And why do you not know? Is that not your job? You fail me Peter. I do not tolerate failure!"

"Forgive me My Lord!" Pettigrew pleaded. Desperation making his voice squeak just like the rodent his Animagus form took.

"You are fortunate I have other followers who succeed where you fail," his master said dangerously. The ratty man quailed as the thought his master did not deem him useful enough to live, dashed across his mind.

"I-I have a plan, My Lord!"

"Oh?"

"I-In a months' time, it will be the first Quiddich match of the year! Since there was no tournament last year, I'm certain everybody will be training as much as they can! And with how concerned about the school teams are about their practices being monitored, Potter will be isolated in an out of the way place with only a few wizards with him! Any protection Dumbledore has for the school won't be at the pitch!"

Silence met Pettigrew's plan as his master thought about it. Soon, dark laughter fill the room as his master enjoyed a joke only he was privy to.

"Oh dear Peter, you are useful after all" He said softly. Pettigrew felt a spindly hand place itself on his shoulder and the small ratty man looked up. Red eyes with cat like slits for pupils pinned him in his place. A mouth with no lips was stretched into a smile that looked horrendous in the chalk white, skull-like face.

"I have a different plan." Lord Voldemort whispered to his terrified minion.

…_._

Harry was the first awake the next morning. He lay in his bed, savouring the fact it was Saturday and he had no more detentions. The only thing on his agenda today was Quiddich practice in the afternoon. No classes, no professors, no lectures about OWLs…. Harry loved Saturdays.

And what made today even better, Ron was now an official member of the Gryffindor team. He knew it was luck that got Ron in. If the other two players who had flown better than him didn't have other clubs or were not so annoying, Ron wouldn't be on the team. But he was, and Harry couldn't be happier. Just wait till they beat Malfoy!

A wave of uneasiness went through him as he remembered Umbridge's smiling face and foreboding words. She said something was happening today, and anything that made that ugly toad of a woman happy was definitely not good for them. His previous euphoria over a glorious Saturday was forgotten as he brooded about the subject. He never got a chance to discuss it with Hermione and Ron with the party for Ron last night. Deciding he would talk to them over breakfast, he got up.

Pulling his curtains apart, Harry nearly fell off his bed in laughter and instantly his bad mood was gone. His dorm mates were sprawled all over the room, looking as if they had passed out on the way to bed. Ron was half dressed and lay on the floor next to his trunk, clothes spilled everywhere. Neville had for some reason fallen asleep on top of his trunk, and was curled up in a ball. If he moved a centimetre, he wouldn't be on there very long. Last night's celebrations had gone for a long while.

Still chuckling, Harry kicked Ron awake.

"Wassup Harry?" He mumbled, still groggy from sleep.

"C'mon, breakfast. Hermione will be waiting for us."

"Five more minutes…" Ron moaned, rolling over on the floor. Harry sighed before looking around. He grinned when he found what he was searching for.

"Ron, it's time to get up." He said, a warning tone entering his voice.

"I'll catch up or… something," Ron yawned.

"Last chance,"

"Let me sleep!"

With no more warning, Harry upended the jug of water above his sleepy best friend. He was still smiling hugely as the chilly water hit Ron's face. He was even smiling as he ran out of the dormitory, dodging various objects thrown at him by all of his dorm mates who had woken by the oh so manly squeal Ron had emitted when the water covered him.

Hermione eyed him suspiciously as he came into the common room, hearing the furious roars behind him.

"What happened?" She asked. Harry just walked past her, still smiling.

"Ron wouldn't wake up." He replied happily. "Let's go, he'll catch up once he's dry. I want to get there before all the sausages go."

"What do you mean 'once he's dry'?!" Hermione demanded. Harry shrugged and headed to the portrait entrance.

Ron met them at the Gryffindor table about five minutes later, grumbling the whole way. Harry just grinned. It had been a while since he was in such a good mood. Even the glares and not-so-hush gossip from the other students couldn't dampen his spirits. Unlike Ron. He giggled to himself at his own pun. Dampen, get it? Ron and Hermione looked at him like he had grown a second head. He didn't blame them; he had not been in this good a mood all year. He ignored them both in favour of grabbing a plate of bacon.

Breakfast past in companionable silence, each of them distracted with their own thoughts. Only when the morning post arrived did they speak.

"Anything interesting?" Ron asked mouth full of toast as Hermione paid the owl dropping off the newspaper. She looked apprehensively at Harry before opening it. Since the first day she hadn't brought out a newspaper in front of him because of his reaction. Harry shrugged. He understood the reasoning behind her wanting to read the mail, didn't mean he had to like it.

Smiling, Hermione unfolded the paper and gasped at the headline. Instantly Harry and Ron leaned in to read it.

_HAS DUMBLEDORE GONE SENILE? DANGER AT HOGWARTS_

_Recent actions made by the Hogwarts Headmaster have had many a concerned witch and wizard questioning the stability of the once powerful wizard. None more so than his recent desire to hire bodyguards for the school. What bodyguards you may ask? Well dear readers, it seems as though Albus Dumbledore has somehow summoned ninja to serve him._

_Yes, devoted subscribers, ninjas. Many did not believe in the once bed-time story characters to exist. Placing their existence in the same category as heliopaths and the like. But we have first-hand witness accounts to the presence of the mysterious ninja guards. And let us tell you, they do not give the students a feeling of being protected._

"At the Welcoming Feast when they introduced themselves, they did this spell where it froze our entire body. I couldn't move a finger" _This statement was given by a Slytherin Student in regards to the first night of his fifth year at Hogwarts._

"They appear out of nowhere, no sound or anything. They can't Aparate on the grounds can they?" _Another student asks in fear in regards to the ninja's strange abilities. We have kept the identities of our sources anonymous as the ninja have remained secretive and unwilling to part with any information about their origins. Who knows what they would do to innocent children who want the public to know about their fear?_

_We at the _Daily Prophet_ strive to deliver to our readers all they deserve to know and as such, we have investigated what is known about these ninja mysteries. On page seven is a detailed collaboration from our top reporters with all information about what we know on the ninja people._

_As our faithful readers will remember, the last time Hogwarts deemed it necessary to employ protection for the supposedly safest place in magical Britain, was two years ago when notorious mass murderer Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. What could be so dangerous as to summon ninja to the school? Dumbledore claims it is due to the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, a fact which the Ministry strongly denies._

"The safety and security of its people is the Ministry of Magic's highest priority" _Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge said when asked to comment on Dumbledore's actions. _"We have no reason to believe such a threat that is known for publicly terrorizing the community has indeed risen from the dead. The only eye witness report came from a poor fourteen year old boy who was traumatized in a dangerous tournament when seeing his fellow competitor die in the process of participating. Since then, there has been no other proof that the terror the Ministry triumphed over fifteen years ago has indeed returned."

_Concerns over the goings-on at Hogwarts have escalated in past years, with worried parents voicing out against the eccentric decisions the once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederate of Wizards has made. The historic wizarding school is known for its independence from the government but our sources hint at change that is coming in response to concerned parents._

_Is Dumbledore losing his touch? Is he fit to be in charge of our children's education and futures? Survey on Page 12_

The trio sat stunned, before each of them exploding.

"What the bloody hell? I bet Malfoy was that fifth grade boy!"

"How can they say that about Dumbledore?"

"That's what Umbridge was talking about!"

Ron and Hermione turned to Harry. "What do you mean? What was she talking about?" Hermione asked.

"I was going to tell you guys last night, but forgot with the party and everything. Last night when I went to my detention I overheard Umbridge talking to the Minister and Malfoy's dad. They were talking about how to control the ninja, but then she opened the door and I couldn't hear anymore. But before she sent me away, she said that something was going to happen today. Something that will make me not misbehave anymore."

"What could it be?" Ron wondered, his face scrunched up as he thought hard.

"I have no idea, but she was smiling. Whatever makes her smile, I don't like." Harry growled. His good mood evaporating quicker than ice under a heating spell.

"Well whatever it is, no point worrying about it. Hey Harry, wanna go to the pitch early and warm up?" Ron asked eagerly. Harry nodded, Quiddich was something he could enjoy regardless of what was going on.

"But you guys! This could be something serious! Plus the amount of homework you two have is astronomical! Not to mention, don't you want to read what the _Prophet _has to say about the ninjas?" Hermione questioned. Boys and their sports.

"That's why we got you Hermione! You know we aren't good at this thinking stuff! Plus we have practice later on anyway. We can talk about what she's up to at dinner, and then do our homework after. Sound good? Ok, catch you later!" Not giving her a chance to reply, the two boys dashed off before she could lecture them more about homework. Enemy plans just made Harry's head hurt. Some time on his Firebolt will make him think clearer, he decided.

…

"_Change of plans, Deer you stay with the Granger girl. See what she does after reading the paper thing."_

"_Hai taicho."_

"_Dove, any change in border surveillance?"_

"_Negative, taicho."_

"_Good. My clones will take over now. We will henge into birds to follow the two as there are no places to hide on the way to the training ground."_

"_Hai taicho."_

"_Move out,"_

…

Practice with Ron went by great. Harry was no Chaser and only managed to score a couple of goals against Ron as they flew around the pitch. He felt a small amount of disappointment at himself, before remembering that Ron's job was to guard the goals well, and if Harry had actually scored well, they would be in trouble. Spirits lifting, they continued until it was time for lunch. After which they returned, completely ignored by Hermione who was buried in books and parchment, numerous copies of the _Daily Prophet_ strewn about her. Her hair was frazzled and her entire aura screamed frustration. If they had paid more attention to their surroundings, they would have seen the Deer masked ninja, hidden in the shadows, chuckling to himself in amusement.

When they returned to the Quiddich Pitch, all of their team-mates bar their new captain were in the changing room.

"All right, Ron?" George asked of his little brother, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Yeah," Ron replied quietly. He had slowly withdrawn into himself as practice drew nearer, the good mood and confidence at their practice this morning vaporizing.

"Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?" said Fred, slightly malicious grin on his face.

"Shut up" Ron said, trying on his uniform for the first time. It fit him quite well, considering it was Oliver Wood's.

"Ok everyone!" Angela announced as she emerged from the captain office. "Let's get started. Fred, George; you guys get the ball crate. Also, there are some spectators with us today. Just ignore them and focus on the practice."

Harry felt dread weigh down in his stomach. He bet his Firebolt he knew who the spectators were. He glanced over to Ron who had gone pale. Looks like Ron had the same suspicion he did.

Sure enough, when they left the changing room, they were greeted by the cat calls and jeers from the Slytherin Quiddich team, as well as various other Slytherin members. Harry glared at them with undisguised hate. Ron remained silent as he walked past.

Mounting his broom and kicking off the ground, he rose into the air, relishing the way the wind felt against his face. As he levelled with the height of the goal posts, he noticed something different than his time with Ron.

Standing on the tips of three of the stands were the ninja. Their outfits making them shadowy, but their masks shining in the sunlight. As the rest of The Gryffindor team joined him in the air, they also noticed the silent watchers.

"Isn't there one missing?" Whispered Katie, a Chaser on their team.

"Why do you think they're here?" Alicia, another Chaser, asked.

"Maybe they're here to watch?" Angelia said slowly. "I don't think they would have seen a Quiddich match before." Nodding to herself, she turned her back to the ninja to face her team. Harry was impressed at her bravery, he wasn't sure he'd be able to put his back to them. 'Ok team, let's see what we got. First, the whole team will practice passing. Yes, even you three Harry, George and Fred. You don't handle the Quaffle, but the skill comes in handy and it will help build teamwork. Right, let's do this." She zoomed off and slowly, the team followed her. Harry glanced back at the ninja. How were they able to stand on the tip of the stand? He thought. Some sort of levitation charm?

All thoughts of the ninja were driven from his mind as he realized how terrible Ron was with an audience. The Slytherins had quietened when they saw the ninja on the stands, but realizing they weren't there to punish or control them, they resumed their jeers and insults. Most of which were directed at Ron. After ten minutes of Quaffle passing, and dropping, Angela sent Harry and the twin to get the Snitch and Bludger.

As they landed, Harry heard the muttering Fred and George were saying under their breath.

"Silly gits,"

"Needs to ignore it,"

"Never gets clumsy when we tease him,"

"Going to send the Bludger their way if they don't shut up,"

Harry smiled at the brotherly affection. He stood by the crate and waited for the whistle. Hearing it, they let the Snitch and Bludger fly. From then on, he barely knew what the rest of his team was doing. The Slytherin cat calls just a hum in the wind that blew past him as he weaved in and out of Chasers and Beaters.

Shortly into the practice though, the whistle sounded and Harry pulled around to see what the problem was.

"Ron, you're not fending the middle post!" Angela yelled. It was true. He had drifted to the left, leaving the other two rings completely undefended. The Slytherins cheered at the stop and at the failure. Angela flew up and talked with Ron over his positioning. Harry couldn't tell which was a brighter red, the Quaffle or Ron's face.

Angela sounded the whistle again, and Harry zoomed off, searching for the Snitch. Seconds later he became aware of a Bludger following him. Quickly looking around he found Fred, the Beater of the game. He changed his direction and flew towards him, Bludger still following.

Fred saw him coming and prepared his bat. Harry grinned at him as he flew past. Fred tightened his grip and swung. A sound _smack _sounded and the ball was flung into the other direction. Harry returned to searching for the Snitch.

Not for long

The Bludger was back and Harry felt cold. Bludgers were not meant to focus on one player; they lock on to the closest player and try to knock them off. This was exactly like second year when Dobby hexed the ball to follow only Harry until he was severely injured. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fred flying to meet him, a frown on his face. Harry turned sharply and rocketed towards him. "Get Angela to stop!" Fred yelled before flying forward and meeting the bludger.

"Be careful!" Harry called back. He wasn't sure if Fred heard him or not, as he had already engaged the rouge Bludger. Harry searched for Angela.

The rest of the team hadn't noticed so far. Katie and Alicia were battling for possession with the captain watching. Ron had his eyes on the Quaffle and had ignored everything else. George was covering Angela. Harry flew to the Gryffindor captain.

'Harry! What are you doing? Go find the Snitch!" Angela demanded of him as he drew near her.

"Angela, stop practice!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"Rogue Bludger!" Harry yelled, before flying away. Angela stared at the space he once occupied, now filled by the heavy grey ball. Her eyes widened as the ball flew towards her; she had no time to react, no time to dodge.

It didn't matter as the Bludger swerved and followed Harry.

"Just what we need." Angela muttered. "Everyone down! Practice is over!"

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"There's another Bludger after Harry. Everyone down and out the way. George, grab your bat. Help Fred try to keep it away from him. Alicia, go and get Professor McGonagall."

Harry was unaware of the goings on of everyone else. His entire world had narrowed to a point. And that point was to fly. He circled, twirled, looped and zigzagged, none of it work. The ball remained on his tail, and slowly closed in. Harry leaned over the handle of his broomstick, urging the _Firebolt _to go faster. He narrowly avoided Fred. He heard the smack of the bat hitting the Bludger. He felt a few seconds of relief, before the tell-tale whoosh signalled the heavy ball's return. He veered to the left and led the Bludger past George who had somehow gotten a bat and was glaring at the Rogue Quiddich equipment hell bent on pulverising Harry. His efforts to stop it did no better than Fred's.

Harry was panicking now. A professor wouldn't get there in time to stop it before it caught up to Harry. Was he going to have to let the thing smash into him before it would stop? He supposed he could cast a _Protego_ charm to protect himself… protect… He glanced around; the sun gleamed off the bone white masks of the shadowy ninja, still perched on top of the stands opposite the Slytherin crowd, who had gone silent as the situation dawned on them.

He didn't think twice about it. He aimed his broom towards Fox, the closest one, and rocketed towards him. The Bludger following close behind.

Naruto watched as Harry flew directly towards him. So the grey ball following the boy was not a part of the training after all. Stupid magical game. They didn't know whether the captain of the squad had decided to practice dodging ability or not, so they just watched. But now as the rest of the Gryffindor team descended it appeared that there was an assassination attempt in progress.

As the boy neared him, Naruto noticed something. The Bludger had changed in its trajectory. It was only slight, a few centimetres at most, but the ball had moved to the left of the boy. It had changed it target from Harry, to him.

Great

Naruto fell forward. He heard the screams of the crowd watching and saw the shocked face of Potter, but it didn't matter. He fell, face first, hurtling towards the ground. Bright patterns of the colourful stands blurred in his vision but his focus was entirely pinpointed on the earth that was rushing towards him. He flipped in a somersault before he smashed into the grass, and using chakra enhanced legs, he pushed of the ground running.

Harry hovered in mid-air, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Fox just took a suicide dive off the top of one of the stands. On top of that, the Bludger was now following after him. And then, instead of splattering on the ground, the ninja did a flip and ran off like it was nothing, hexed Bludger still pelting after him. The ground where he had landed now had a small crater decorating it. Now Harry was watching as the ninja ran inhumanly fast around the pitch, dodging, ducking, zig-zagging, trying to shake the stubborn Quiddich equipment.

"Harry!" he turned and saw Fred and George flying up to meet him.

"You alright?" One of the twins asked when they drew level with him. Both of them were panting and Harry could see their arms trembling slightly. They must have put all of their effort into hitting the Bludger when it was after Harry.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry answered, warm with the knowledge of their friendship.

"So now it's after the ninja huh?" The other twin asked. "Reckon we should help?"

"Nah, they're meant to be all powerful. They should be able to handle a little thing like a rogue Bludger."

"Plus they stopped our business experiments."

"And they're getting in the way of our justice against the professors."

"They'll be fine," The twins finished together. Harry grinned, but felt a twinge of guilt. He did lead the Bludger to him, maybe he should help?

"_Mendokusai _as Deer would say_," _A voice said. The three turned, only to see a black shape leap from the stand they were drifting near, towards them.

"Wha -" George didn't finish as his Beater's bat was taken from his hand. The now identified dog masked ninja, dropped to the ground at frightening speed, and before copying what his teammate did and flipping before landing. Though he did not run off, he remained in his position, in the centre of another small crater.

"What do you reckon he's doing?" Harry asked the twins. They shrugged, as unsure as he was.

"Wait! Look at Fox!" Fred pointed. Harry looked. The leader of the ninja had turned sharply and was heading towards his teammate, who had pulled the bat behind his head, and faced the oncoming duo.

"They're going to hit it?"

"But we tried that and it did nothing."

The three watched as Fox got closer, Bludger still hot on his tail. He passed his teammate and stopped. He turned and trotted next to the dog masked one. The taller ninja nodded at something Fox said, and the Beater's bat started to glow a soft blue. The Bludger came level to the two guards. The dog masked ninja swung.

_CRACK_

The Bludger flew in the other direction; the bat fell to the ground in pieces. Fred and George stared in open mouthed amazement as the Bludger was smashed clear of the grounds. It was Harry that saw the problem and flew towards his guardians.

"You idiots!" He yelled. The two masks snapped in his direction and he felt a moment of pure terror as he remembered these guys could and probably would kill him in a second. But adrenaline overpowered the fear and he kept going. "You just hit it into the school! It could hurt other people!"

"We were aiming to destroy it," the dog masked ninja replied.

"You can't destroy a Bludger," Fred said as he joined them, his twin beside him.

"Yeah, there are heaps of charms and spells in it to make it as strong as possible." George added

"So it is full of magic?" Fox asked, his head tilted to the side.

"Duh! And now it is probably running through the school!" Harry yelled.

"It is locked onto our chakra, it will be back. Dove!" Fox snapped. The third ninja materialised by the other two.

"_Hai taicho."_

"_It's full of magic. Your Gentle Fist would be the best option to destroy it. I would rather not pull out any ninjutsu in front of spectators. Especially since the castor is here watching."_

"_Mah, so this is a test then. Either by Dumbledore, Umbridge or a Slytherin."_

"_And it's using some kind spell that doesn't leave chakra strings we can cut with our kunai."_

"_It has returned taicho."_

And it had. Harry was lost as the ninja started conversing in a language that was not English. He heard the Wesley twin's cursing the fact they didn't know a translator spell and vowing to learn one. But his attention had been taken by the spectators. The Slytherin crowd was pointing in the direction Dog had hit and the sure enough, the bludger was speeding towards them. The ninja's stopped talking and the dove masked one stepped forward.

Silence fell over the pitch as the ninja went forward to meet the Bludger. Stopping in the middle of the field, he fell into a strange position. Harry assumed it was some kind of martial arts stance, but in the few action movies he had been allowed to see, he had never seen anything like this. Both of his legs were bent, making him look like he was going to sit down, but his legs were spread wide, lowering his centre of gravity. One arm was out in front of his body and pointing down, whilst the other was opposite it, pointing upwards. Both were straight. Like he was asking a woman's permission to dance. But what stood out the most was the blue light surrounding his hands.

The Bludger neared the solitary ninja. It happened so fast, Harry was sure who ever was blinking at the time would have missed it. The Dove masked ninja let it get so close it seemed as if it would hit the porcelain mask that covered his face. Then, faster than he could follow, the man moved. Spinning his body and impaling his fist into the solid, grey ball.

The Bludger exploded. Shrapnel flying everywhere as the impact of the ninja's fist smashed into it. He felt his mouth open in disbelief as the once hexed object blew apart. He had been hit by those things before. They were dense, they were solid and they couldn't be blown apart by normal people. Fred and George were right; they didn't need their help at _all._ The sound of clapping broke through his shock.

"Well now, I hurried out here when I heard we had a rogue Bludger, but it seems my worries were quite misplaced. Wouldn't you agree Delores?"

"Oh yes, Headmaster. Some concerned students alerted me to some trouble on the pitch and as a representative of the Ministry, I couldn't let it slide."

Dumbledore and Umbridge approached the small group, the rest of the Gryffindor team and Slytherins following. Harry didn't notice the ninja's stiffening, but he could feel their glares as they saw the two Hogwarts professors. Then it clicked. Someone had to have hexed the Bludger, and that someone had to be there. Harry wasn't the target, the ninja were. But why? To see what they would do? To get them out the way? He could see Umbridge doing that since they interfered with her detentions. But Dumbledore wouldn't do that.

Would he?


End file.
